the Thing about taming Birds
by Sjokolade
Summary: They say birds can't really be tamed and that Cloud and Rain don't belong together, but Yamamoto and Hibari can't stop falling for each other. What started as the returning of a favor becomes the start of something more... 8018
1. Chapter 1

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**Warnings**: boys' love! 8018 3 …and I have spelled Hibari's name _Kyoya_ instead of _Kyouya_, I was practically done before I realized it, so  
**Rating**: T (rated for _romantic behavior_, plus the usual spicy pinches of violence and bad language – can't be avoided, really)  
**Chapter summary**: after Hibari saves his butt, Yamamoto tries to work out a way of thanking him – but Hibari is impossible and won't accept anything! Also, Yamamoto finds himself mysteriously, magnetically drawn to the mysterious Hibari, who seems to be – just a little – fascinated by him in return...  
**Disclaimers**: I don't own KHR (if I did Mukuro would be more in it! I like Chrome, but she doesn't really do much)  
**Author's waste of space**: my very serious (and very first!) attempt at Yamamoto x Hibari. There are a few hints, or things that a humble fan-girl might perceive as such, pointing toward this pairing in the series, and they would, undoubtedly, make a very hot couple! Also, Yamamoto's got the advantage of that gut feeling of his – he's really good at reading people's moods and calming them down, in addition to being the strongest in Namimori after Hibari himself. I got the idea for this chapter partly from the Valentines episode, because when I-Pin gives him chocolate at the end, Hibari looks so surprised (as far as expressions go on that face, anyway) that someone would actually do something like that for him – and afterwards he seems to have developed something of a soft spot for her to the point where he actually _behaves_ – soooo he's not immune to gestures of kindness… And, ah, just read!

Oh, yeah, and I've had some of the baseball guys nickname Yamamoto _Yamachin_, which kind of in a way translates to Yamamoto-chan. Now read!

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:+:+: Chapter 1 :+:+:

_Of how Hibari came to save Yamamoto and how Yamamoto found a way of thanking him and everything begins…_

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If he hadn't broken his arm, it might have never happened.

And it hadn't just been his arm either; he had sprained his ankle pretty badly, too, and almost gotten beaten up and mugged. He had felt smaller and perhaps more defenseless than he ever had in his entire short, eventful life, not to mention it had hurt like hell! And yet. And yet…

All things considered, Yamamoto was happy, in the end, that things turned out the way they did.

* * *

It was quite stupid really, the way he'd broken his arm and all that. He didn't know it was broken at first though, he'd been too upset he'd hurt his precious right arm – his baseball arm! – to bother with the details. It happened during practice. He had climbed up on one of the gigantic spot lights they used to light up the field after dark to see why it wouldn't turn itself on. And then he had slipped before he got all the way up, and fallen down, landing hard on his side in the grass. Ironic, really, how he had been in real sword fights and survived bomb attacks and crazy strong opponents, and was still capable of being clumsy and hurting himself, just like everyone else in the world. He figured he would've laughed if it hadn't hurt so badly.

He sat out the rest of the training session on the bench, determined not to leave before the others just because of a little pain. His coach made a temporary sling for his arm, and an hour or so later he was walking – or rather limping – his way home. His team mates passed him by on the way, walking or perched on their bicycles. They called and waved to him as they passed, wishing him a speedy recovery and hoping they would still see him at school the next day and such things. And then Yamamoto decided he would take a short cut. He knew about one that went through a back alley.

.

A short cut through a back alley… really, what had he expected?

* * *

There were 5 of them. All of them were big guys – probably high school students, he reckoned – and all were eyeing him with menacing smirks. They were smoking and two of them held beer cans in their hands. These weren't good guys, Yamamoto could tell. "Hey there, kid," one of them called out to him. He spat the word 'kid', as if saying it made his mouth taste bad. "You a Namimori student?"

"…Yeah" Yamamoto tried not to look at them. If he stared, they might get upset and use it as an excuse to start trouble. Now, Yamamoto was no wuss, and he certainly wasn't afraid of these guys. Only, when he couldn't use his arm or jump or even run… This is not good, he thought.

3 of them were sitting in a crouching position, like construction workers on a 5-minute break, and the 2 others were perched on a couple of rusty trash cans that looked like no one had ever emptied them. The only light came from the street lamps and a single bulb attached high up on the wall by the entrance to the alley, painting everything a dirty orange. One of the guys leapt down from the trash can and the ones on the ground suddenly stood up. "I like that jacket," one of them said. "That is a nice jacket…" The 4 of them now up stepped in front of him, blocking his path ahead. He'd have to turn back. But there was the last guy, his thick arms folded across his chest. No escape.

Yamamoto thought he would pass out from the pain when they grabbed his arm. The sling was ripped off and it hurt like crazy. He spun around, punching the guy behind him with his left arm. This is bad – really bad! The next thing he knew, he was held up against the wall by the biggest of the guys. He had upper arms like hams and his thick fingers pressed around Yamamoto's throat, pushing him further up, up, against the wall until his feet left the ground and almost couldn't breathe anymore. He felt another shot of pain from his arm as one of the guys tugged at his sleeves, yanking off his jacket, the uniform jacket.

.

Suddenly, a quiet voice spoke from somewhere above them. "Weak herbivores like you make me sick."

Their heads snapped up in surprise and there, perched on an impossibly narrow railing was Hibari, scowling down at them in utter contempt. Yamamoto, whose feet were still dangling several inches from the ground, felt a sudden rush of relief. Hibari…! "What did you call us?" snarled one of the boys, "why don't you come down here, princess, and repeat that to my face, huh?!" Hibari smiled like a shark. "Gladly…" He leapt nimbly from the railing and landed gracefully, soundlessly on the asphalt in front of them.

"Hey, I know who you are!" said one of the others, pointing a finger at the red band around Hibari's upper arm, which had suddenly become visible now he was within range of the street lights. "You're with the Disciplinary Committee, aren't you?" The guy who was holding Yamamoto suddenly tensed upon hearing this. Apparently he, too, clearly knew who Hibari was.

"I _own_ the Disciplinary Committee," said Hibari. His eyes were narrow and his expression looked very dangerous, "and you are disturbing the peace of _my_ town."

In a flash he had whipped out his tonfas and, in the next instant, he had planted one of them firmly in the solar plexus of the boy who had recognized him. He spun around, seemingly in mid-air and lashed out a foot, which hit the face of the stunned boy behind him with an audible crack. The boy fell to his knees, clutching his bleeding and clearly broken jaw in his hands, howling in pain. The boy who had challenged Hibari to come down, however, didn't seem fazed by what he saw. He grabbed a broken glass bottle from the ground and held it up in front of him, sharp pointy edges glinting in the orange light. "You're a regular psychopath, aren't you, princess…" he said through gritted teeth. "Let's see how tough you are when I break that pretty face of yours!" He lunged at Hibari, who blocked his attack with a tonfa, ducked under the next jab and kneed the boy in the stomach. The boy doubled over in pain, but still managed to lash out another strike. It missed, of course. Instead Hibari grabbed his outstretched wrist and with the tiniest little twist, he broke it, as easily and effortlessly as if it had been a twig. Yamamoto shut his eyes involuntarily. The sound of the snap was gut-wrenching. The boy fell on his front, unable to ease the fall with his now useless hand.

Hibari turned to face the biggest of the five, the one who still held Yamamoto up against the wall by the neck. This guy seemed to have more sense than his comrades, however, for he let go of Yamamoto and the uniform jacket he had still been holding onto in his other hand even before Hibari had taken the first step towards him, and then he ran. The fifth guy had also disappeared sometime during the fight – or slaughter, anyway – and was nowhere to be seen.

Yamamoto fell hard on his bad ankle; he winced and had to bite back hard to stop a whimper of pain from escaping his throat. It hurt so badly! He looked around at the three remaining boys; two were badly injured and the third was out cold it seemed. Hibari was really amazing, and really, really scary, he thought.

Hibari picked up the uniform jacket from the ground, brushed the dirt off from it and handed it to Yamamoto without a word. Yamamoto looked up at him, took it and didn't say anything either. He tried to push himself up with his good hand, but his ankle shot bursts of pain up his leg and when he tried to stand on it, it wouldn't support his weight and felt like jelly beneath him. With a hiss of pain he fell backwards against the wall, managing, barely, to remain standing upright.

It suddenly felt very important – no, essential – not to appear weak. Not in front of _this_ guy!

He had heard or maybe read somewhere that predators could smell fear, and if you showed signs of weakness they wouldn't hesitate to attack. And one never could tell with Hibari… With a determined mine, he took a step. It hurt like hell, but he ignored it and, glancing at Hibari, he took another and another. Hibari watched him with mild curiosity, arms folded across his chest. Yamamoto swallowed hard as he bent down, his good leg supporting all his weight, and retrieved his school bag from where it had been tossed haphazardly aside earlier.

Suddenly, without asking permission, Hibari was at his side, took the bag from his grip and slung it over his own shoulder and, with a sigh of reluctance, or perhaps exasperation, he took Yamamoto's good arm and did the same with it, allowing Yamamoto to lean on him for support. Yamamoto opened his mouth to laugh or say thank you, but his voice got caught in his throat and disappeared completely as his eyes met Hibari's icy glare. And, like that, they half walked, half limped away. Behind them, the boy with the big mouth and now broken wrist called out after them: "I swear to fucking hell I won't forget this!"

"No, you won't," retorted Hibari smugly. Yamamoto couldn't stifle a small chuckle.

.

Neither of them spoke as they made their way in the slow and almost jerky rhythm of Yamamoto's unbalanced gait. Yamamoto kept shooting Hibari brief glances, wondering if he should say something – anything – or if maybe this was the good kind of silence. He was good at telling, usually, but this was… _him_. It was different with Hibari. Everything always was…

Hibari kept his gaze focused straight ahead on the pavement in front of them, expression calm and indifferent. It was impossible to tell what was going on inside his head. "Hey, Hibari," said Yamamoto after a while with a weak but sincere smile. He felt uncertain of himself, a feeling which was quite novel to him. "Thank you. You really saved my butt back there!"

"Do me a favor and don't jump to conclusions, plant eater," said Hibari without looking at him. "They were trying to steal a Namimori school uniform jacket, and that," suddenly he bent down and, without warning, hoisted Yamamoto up onto his back by the wrists as easily as if he were made of feathers, "well, we just can't have that." He grabbed Yamamoto under the knees and hitched him up a notch. Apparently pleased he continued to walk. It went lot faster this way. "Where is your house?"

* * *

Yamamoto figured he must have passed out somewhere along the way, because when he opened his eyes he was in his room, in his bed, staring up at the same ceiling he always stared at when he woke up. He sat up, careful not to strain his right arm as he did, and looked around. It was dark and quiet, and he figured it must still be nighttime. Had Hibari really _carried_ him all the way home? He couldn't remember going to bed at all… His arm was bandaged with a near air-tight supporting bandage, and someone had taken off his shirt and shoes as well. Flexing his toes gingerly he was able to assess that his foot had also been bandaged.

He looked idly around his room and there, in the sliver of light from the moon and the street lamps outside, laid Hibari. Curled up on his side like a cat, fast asleep, his little pet bird comfortably nested in his thick, pitch black hair. The sliding doors that opened up to the narrow, roofed terrace had been opened all the way, letting in cold but refreshing night-air. That was where Hibari slept, as if he truly were a wild animal that wouldn't feel safe unless he somehow had an open route to freedom.

"Hibari…" Yamamoto said soundlessly, shaking his head with a small smile, "you're really something."

When he awoke again a few hours later, it was morning and Hibari was gone.

.

"Ah! Takeshi," his father looked up from his morning tea as Yamamoto entered the kitchen, looking both relieved and worried all at once. "Sit down, kiddo! How's that arm of yours?" Then, before Yamamoto could answer, he waved a hand dismissively and said, "know what, never mind, I'll drive you to the hospital before school anyway!" He jumped to his feet and got Yamamoto some milk from the fridge and a freshly made toast.

"Thanks, dad… err, listen," he took a sip of milk and glanced around the kitchen. Hibari wasn't here either. He must have left, Yamamoto thought. "When… err, I mean, how did I get home last night? Truth is I don't remember going to bed at all, and when I woke up I had these bandages on and everything…" he trailed off. _And Hibari was sleeping on my floor, in my room…_

"Yeah, you were asleep when he brought you here," said his father, slumping down on his chair again. "Hibari-kun! That kid sure is a looker, huh? And so polite and correct, too, your grandfather would've liked him, Takeshi."

Yamamoto suddenly felt like he couldn't swallow the milk in his mouth. Hibari, polite…?

"He helped me get you upstairs and into bed and then, before I know it he managed to fall asleep on the floor." His father laughed. "Figures, though, doesn't it? You're getting really big, Takeshi! Carrying you on his back must've been hard. I let him lay there. I threw a blanket over him."

So Hibari had really carried him. That was really… really something, thought Yamamoto.

He grinned.

* * *

"…so now my dad is a real sucker for Hibari, and is making me bring him this," he held up a lunch box," as a sign of gratitude, and on top of that now _I _have to find a way to thank him for saving my hide," finished Yamamoto, leaning gingerly back on his chair. "Or rather, my clothes," he corrected.

He had spent 1st period at the hospital, and, all patched up and rubbed in with tiger balm and fresh supporting bandages, he had made it in time to 2nd period. Tsuna and Gokudera had sent him inquisitive and worried looks – well, Tsuna had looked worried, at least – all through mathematics until, finally, the bell rang and he could tell them everything about what had happened on his way home the previous night.

"Wow, I can't believe Hibari actually did that," said Tsuna, laughing in spite of himself. "It almost sounds like you're making it up."

"You idiot," scolded Gokudera, "Now you're in debt to _that_ guy! And how can anyone, especially someone like your dad, be a _sucker_ for someone like _him_? Stuck up brat…"

"Still, though," said Yamamoto, quietly, almost as if he were talking to himself. "You should've seen him. He was magnificent."

* * *

Expressing gratitude to someone like Hibari turned out to be nothing short of impossible.

First of all, he couldn't think of anything Hibari might want. He seemed to appreciate the lunch box his father made for him, or at least he took it, though Yamamoto never saw him eat. He'd never seen Hibari eat anything, actually, come to think of it. "My old man got a really good impression of you," he said as he handed it over to a mildly curious-looking Hibari. "He made you this."

"For me?"

"Yeah, he's really grateful for you helping me home and all…" his voice trailed off. "Your father was pleasant," said Hibari, turning the lunch box in his hands to see it from all sides. "I could probably have him make more of those for you again," began Yamamoto, suddenly eyeing a tiny hope. Seeing the curious look on Hibari's calm face, he felt like he had an idea. "If you like sushi, it could be my way of thanking you for –"

"Hmm, no, this will do," muttered Hibari without looking up. And then he turned on his heel and closed the door to the Disciplinary Office room, leaving Yamamoto with unfinished business.

Even just _saying_ thank you…  
("Hey, Hibari, how are you?", "Better than you can ever hope to be.", "Right… Listen, about yesterday, I just wanted to say thank you for –", "Not accepted. There should have been no need for me to intervene. You were pathetic.")  
…was a difficult and humiliating affair.

That was _before_ lunch.

.

After lunch, he got an idea of sorts – though it wasn't very original – and had Gokudera and Tsuna help him search for Hibari's shoe locker and/or home class room. After the three of them had searched for half an hour without finding so much as a clue about where either of them might be, however, Yamamoto gave up. Truthfully, neither of them even knew what year Hibari was in. As he stood up from where he had been reading name-tags off the small, gray locker-doors, he spotted Hibari. He sat on the wooden bench directly in front of the entrance with his legs crossed, like a spectator at the theater, and an expression of mild amusement on his stoic face. Had he been watching?

During his 10 minute break after the next lesson, Yamamoto ran up to the roof where he knew Hibari liked to nap with a broom and, as quickly as he could with only one arm and a bandaged leg, he had swiped the concrete until it sparkled. Pleased with the result he had turned to run back down, when he nearly collided with none other than Hibari, who was probably on his way up for just one such nap. He looked around lazily at the clean roof, raising his eyebrows a fraction.

"Ah! Hibari! Look, I cleaned your napping-spot! It's a thank you for –"

"Not accepted. If you have the time and energy to mop floors, you should be practicing with your sword instead," drawled Hibari. "Herbivores who can't protect themselves die." And with that somber prediction he sauntered past Yamamoto, who clenched his jaw and heaved a sigh of exasperation. Now, what hadn't he thought of yet…?

If he had looked back before descending the stairs he would've caught Hibari staring at his back with an unreadable expression, which turned into a sort of half-smirk. "Hmm…"

.

And then classes ended.  
He was sitting on the bench, watching as the others did throwing practice, lost in thought. He was contemplating his remaining options – or rather, he was searching for them – and so he didn't notice the little yellow bird until it suddenly landed on the bench next to him, twittering happily.

"Hey little fellow," Yamamoto said softly, reaching out a finger. It was Hibari's bird. It skipped back and forth, chirping "Hibari, Hibari."

"I know, right?" said Yamamoto, "That's who I'm thinking of, too. I don't suppose you know something that would cheer him up?" The bird ruffled it's feathers and, beginning on the oh-so familiar first strophes of the school anthem, it took flight and disappeared toward the main building. It was really impressive how Hibari had taught that bird to sing, he thought – according to Gokudera he must have somehow tamed it and taught it the school anthem in a matter of only a few hours, maybe less, because that was how Gokudera knew where to find him that time when they had been up against Mukuro.

And that's when it struck Yamamoto – he knew _exactly_ how he could show Hibari his gratitude!

Leaping up onto the bench he waved his hands over his head to get everyone's attention. All 60 something boys who were currently members of the baseball club stopped their throwing and turned to him. The managers, four adorable 2nd year girls, turned their attention to him as well. All eyes were on Yamamoto – _excellent_!

"What's up, Yamachin? Coach said you couldn't play yet, you know, so –", "Yeah, we need you to get well soon!"

"Ha-ha, thanks guys," Yamamoto flashed them a big grin, shaking his palms as he did, "but that's not it. Since I'm stuck here," he tapped on the bench his was standing on with his foot to indicate where _here_ was. "I thought the least I could do is give you guys a pep-talk!"

"Yay, pep-talk!", "Ha-ha, you're not even our coach!"

Yamamoto put on his most serious face – an imitation of their coach, whose pep-talks before each match might as well have been meant for young soldiers going to war, rather than a bunch of over-excited middle-schoolers. Some of the boys laughed.

"We, the baseball club of Namimori middle-school, have always and will always do our best!" he announced. "Not for the sake of our own glory –"he glanced briefly upwards in the direction of the roof of the main building, where he knew Hibari must be, "but for the sake of our school and our lovely Namimori!" His little crowd cheered. Had it been anyone else, any other club, they might have looked at him weirdly or thought the whole deal was kind of awkward, but the baseball club – now, they were up for anything! "We take pride in our school, and for the sake of that pride, we will never give up! We will do our best, always, together for Namimori middle-school!"

Had he repeated Namimori enough times now, he wondered? He had shouted out his little speech as loudly as he could – he was bound to have gotten Hibari's attention by now. Right?

"Alright," he clapped his hands, "let's sing the school anthem! Of _Namimori_ middle-school! Everybody!" As if on cue, one of the boys in the crowd threw him a bat which he caught easily with his left hand. Waving it randomly back and forth, he took the role of conductor as all 60 something boys and 4 girls, dressed for practice began to sing with all their heart.

"_Miiiidori tanamikuuu, Namimori noooo…"_

Yamamoto glanced up at the roof again. Was that a black-clad shape he saw? Perhaps he should have checked to see if Hibari was close by before performing this little stunt. He reckoned his team mates probably thought this was all some sort of half-joke, so he couldn't very well do it again. After the song ended and he had bowed deeply several times to the ensuing rounds of generous applause, his team mates returned to their throwing practice while he excused himself and limped off toward the main building.

.

Hibari stood leaning against the door to his classroom with his arms folded across his chest. He seemed to be studying his own shoes but looked up when he heard Yamamoto approaching. He… smiled.

And it wasn't a sneer or a smirk or anything like that either, it was an actual smile – not a big one, but somehow stunning all the same. He looked, well, perhaps happy was an overstatement, but certainly pleased. Smiling like that he looked really… _beautiful_.

"I accept your gratitude, Yamamoto Takeshi," he said simply.

Yamamoto caught himself staring with his mouth slightly open; he quickly snapped his jaw back up where it belonged and returned the smile. Smile, Hibari was _smiling_! _He_ had made Hibari smile!

"You can just call me Takeshi," he said. He hadn't meant to say that, but the words just fell out of his mouth. He felt his cheeks grow hot. "If you like," he added. And then, "anyway, he-he, glad I finally found a way of thanking you"

"Hmm," said Hibari. And then he turned and disappeared down the hallway. Yamamoto's heart was racing. Hibari was really something!

* * *

Their next meeting didn't happen until nearly two full weeks later. Yamamoto's arm had healed enough that he could participate almost as usual during baseball practice again – Thank God! He had to show a little caution, though. As he was heading back to change and get his bag from the classroom and go home for the evening, he spotted Hibari ascending the stairs just ahead of him and he quickened his pace into a near-run to catch up. "Ah, hey, Hibari," he greeted. "Long time no see!" Hibari graced him with a glance. He looked thoughtful, almost distracted, thought Yamamoto.

"Are you always here?" asked Yamamoto, wiping his forehead with a small hand towel as they walked. Hibari wasn't in any of the sports clubs, he knew, and he didn't think he'd ever seen any of the other guys from the disciplinary squad around after classes ended. Not after it was past 8 in the evening, anyway, because only the baseball club and the boys' volleyball club had practice that late. Didn't Hibari have anywhere else to be, he wondered?

"Not always," said Hibari without looking up.

"Where do you live, then?" He had to ask. He wondered what Hibari's house might look like; and if he ate dinner and talked about his day with his parents and said 'I'm home' when he stood in the doorway. Did he wear casual clothes when he wasn't at school? Once he had started, Yamamoto suddenly found he couldn't stop thinking about it or stop picturing Hibari in normal, everyday situations. The boy who was walking just a little in front of him now always looked so cool and above-the-rest with his uniform and that red arm-band, that the thought of him being anywhere else and doing something other than being a prefect seemed very ridiculous.

Hibari gave him a sideways glare before returning his gaze to the hallway ahead. "…in the area," he said finally. No insults. He really _did_ seem distracted…

"Ha ha ha," Yamamoto had to laugh," I was just wondering if maybe you didn't live here at school after all!" It was a little dangerous, blurting out things like that in front of Hibari, he was so unpredictable, but Yamamoto couldn't help himself and either way he rarely thought before he spoke.

"That's stupid," said Hibari without slowing his step. He paused, and then," I live in an apartment."

"Cool, apartments are really nice!" When he thought about it later, Yamamoto would remember this as the first little piece of personal information Hibari had ever given him. But just then he simply felt happy that Hibari had said something and wasn't upset and that now they were – kind of – talking to each other.

.

The lights had been lit along the streets of Namimori and filled the empty classroom with a kind of faint, dirty orange glow. Yamamoto entered without turning the lights on, dragging off his soaked baseball shirt as he did and slumping down onto his chair to untie his running shoes. Only then did he spot it; a small, neatly wrapped package tied up with pink ribbons and a small hand written note attached to it with a Hello Kitty sticker. Someone must have put it there while he was out training. Intrigued he opened it to find a small bag of cookies that were obviously hand-made. Grinning, he put one whole into his mouth and unfolded the little note.

It read:"_Dear Yamamoto-san, these aren't much, but I hope you will enjoy them nonetheless. I made them just for you. Keep up the good work with your baseball practice_!" No signature.

He put the note in the pocket of his school bag and took another cookie, still grinning. This happened from time to time. Occasionally girls would leave love letters or homemade sweets on his desk or stick them in his shoe locker by the entrance for him to find when he was heading home for the day after baseball practice. Yamamoto thought it was all very cute and was always cheered up by it, even more so when he was hungry, like now, and was surprised by some delicious treat. He fumbled with his shoelaces while he chewed and swung his feet up on the desk to get better access.

.

And then, suddenly, someone spoke. "Don't put your feet on the desk."

Yamamoto, who hadn't noticed anyone approaching at all, nearly fell backwards off the chair, one shoe still clutched in his hands. By the sliding door stood Hibari; half hidden in the shadow of the hallway.

"Ha ha ha, man, you sure move quietly!" laughed Yamamoto. "I didn't hear you coming at all. Hey," he pushed the little bag of cookies toward Hibari," want a cookie?" Hibari merely glanced at it.

"A girl left them here for me," Yamamoto went on," they're really good! Here," he picked it up and held it out, almost as if he was trying to tempt a wild animal to come closer by offering it food. Hibari gracefully detached himself from the shadows and, with an almost hesitant movement, he chose the smallest cookie. He held it nimbly between his thumb and index finger but didn't take a bite.

"You're popular," said Hibari suddenly, looking directly at him. It was a statement.

Yamamoto looked up; feeling a little startled by the unexpected comment, and chuckled. "Ah, heh, I don't know about that," he said modestly. He stood up and began to untangle his white uniform shirt from the red tie, both of which he had pulled off in a rush a few hours earlier when he was changing for practice. "But it's nice of them anyway."

With the soft orange light coming in sideways through the windows, every curve on Yamamoto's chest was silhouetted sharply on his smooth skin. He pulled on his shirt and slung the tie casually around his neck, not noticing that Hibari was looking. He quickly averted his eyes when Yamamoto turned to him.

"So, Hibari, what are you doing here so late? Do you have a test coming up or something?" Hibari turned and walked towards the door. "No," he said simply. Yamamoto slung his school bag over his shoulder and caught up to him just as he stepped out into the hallway.

.

"You know," he began, as they descended the staircase leading down to the shoe lockers by the entrance. "You seem different from usual now, somehow."

Hibari's eyes narrowed. If Yamamoto had been looking, he might have paused to choose his words, because it looked like Hibari might react in a way that was very much usual for him if Yamamoto wasn't careful.

"It's nice," finished Yamamoto awkwardly. Hibari gave him a sideways glare, but he didn't say anything and he didn't strike him.

"Err, do you," grinning, Yamamoto hesitantly scratched his neck, "do you want to walk home together?" Again the words just spilled out of his mouth and he could've bit his own tongue, but there was no helping it.

"Never," quipped Hibari, but then he suddenly paused. "Your necktie," he said. Without asking permission or even looking up at him, Hibari began to undo the messy half-knot Yamamoto had made with nimble fingers.

.

Hibari's face was suddenly very close to his. Yamamoto could see the very faint moisture on his lips and count the strands of his long eyelashes. He was very pretty. So very... Yamamoto couldn't help himself. Almost without realizing what he was doing, he leant in closer, carefully so, as if afraid he might scare Hibari away, and pressed his lips softly, tentatively against Hibari's.

He held the kiss, savoring the strange, oddly pleasing sensation. When he pulled back, Hibari still had his bright red necktie clutched in his hands. He stood perfectly still, perhaps too stunned to move or speak, looking up at Yamamoto, his face was unreadable but his dark eyes were wide. Acting purely on his gut-feeling, as was his nature, Yamamoto leant closer and for the second time he did what he had never imagined he would ever do: he kissed Hibari.

And this time Hibari responded, he kissed back!

Yamamoto's heart was beating fast. It felt so nice; he had never thought kissing someone would be like this. Very carefully he put one hand on Hibari's upper arm, just the palm, open, leaning in just a tiny fraction of an inch closer. He was afraid that if he tried to _hold_ Hibari in any way, by touching the small of his back or that thick sweet-smelling hair, Hibari might feel trapped and pull away.

Hibari slid one hand down from the necktie he had been holding onto until it rested on Yamamoto's stomach and Yamamoto wondered, briefly, if Hibari could sense how his heart was pounding through the thin fabric of the shirt. The other hand travelled up to his shoulder and finally, as their kiss deepened, it brushed tentatively against the small hairs at the base of his neck and suddenly Hibari's strong, perfect hand was in his hair. Still cautious, Yamamoto responded by resting the palm of his other hand lightly against Hibari's hip.

When the kiss broke, neither of them moved, and neither looked away. It was very quiet around them. Hibari didn't walk away. They remained like that in a semi-embrace for a moment, eyes firmly locked. And then they kissed a third time.

This time they kissed for real, as if the first two times had been test-rounds leading up to the third. Using just the tip of his tongue, Yamamoto traced the curve of Hibari's lower lip. He felt Hibari stiffen momentarily under his palms, but then he seemed to relax and the tiniest ghost of a moan escaped his throat. Yamamoto completely forgot himself then. The palm on Hibari's hip slid around to the small of his back where it curved slightly inwards at the bottom of his spine. Hibari's lips parted and suddenly they were inside each other's mouths and it felt warm and soft and tight and strangely, mysteriously fantastic.

.

When he got home, much later than usual, Yamamoto had a raging hard-on. His father was still in the shop, closing up for the evening and probably hadn't noticed how late he was – which was just as well. He headed straight for the bathroom and jumped into the tub even before it was filled. Images of Kyoya kept popping up in his mind. Hibari Kyoya… They actually had ended up going home together; or rather, they had been walking next to each other for a small portion of the way – Hibari said he'd changed his mind.

He grinned.

.


	2. Chapter 2

**Warnings**: boys' love! 8018 3 …and I have still spelled Hibari's name _Kyoya_ instead of _Kyouya_… Nope, I haven't fixed it  
**Rating**: T (rated for _even_ _more romantic behavior_, plus the usual pinches of violence and bad language – can't be avoided, really)  
**Chapter summary**: Yamamoto is acting strange… He seems to be even happier than usual and distracted and suddenly very busy all the time. Suspicious, Tsuna and Gokudera decide to investigate! They feel certain there is a girl in the picture and are determined to find out whom.  
**Disclaimers**: I don't own KHR (if I did, Yamamoto would be teaching Tsuna to swim in _every_ episode!)  
**Author's waste of space**: Reviews! Thank you so much, I didn't think I'd get any at all, so it made me really happy. And some people even added this to their favorite stories and story-alert! Seriously, thanks, you guys made my day!

I feel I should explain a couple of things here before we begin, even if a lot of you will already know this:

_Shoes and slippers_: At the entrance of Japanese schools there are rows of shoe lockers where the students and teachers keep their indoor-slippers – you don't go inside with your shoes on, you just don't. And the doors are (nearly) always sliding doors.

_Purikura: _the purikura Tsuna and Gokudera are searching for in this chapter are photo-stickers made in the super-popular photo-boxes that you'll find everywhere in Japan where you can take pictures and decorate them. Couples, especially in middle- and high school, always have purikura of themselves together, kissing or holding hands, from various dates – and it's common for girls to carry purikura with them to give away to friends and such. So both Yamamoto and Gokudera, those super-popular guys, would in reality have received tons of these already.

And… no, that's it. I tried to write this chapter a little funnier and more like an episode than the 1st (Tsuna's inner thoughts included and all), though I did a miserable job at that, he-he ;D  
Now, read (andenjoy)!

.

.

:+:+: Chapter 2 :+:+:

_Of Tsuna and Gokudera's search for the secret identity of Yamamoto's secret girlfriend…_

_._

"Tsuna! Hey, Tsuna!" a boy Tsuna vaguely recognized as one of Yamamoto's team mates came jogging towards him. "Have you seen Yamachin?"

"Yamamoto? Err, I think he went –" Tsuna lifted his hand to point, but found that his vision was suddenly blocked by a solid wall of white gym shirts and baseball jackets as no less than 8 more of Yamamoto's friends from baseball suddenly appeared.

"Hi, Tsuna," called some of them, others: "let's go already, come on!" and "did you find Yamachin?"

"Hey, hey, hey," Gokudera was suddenly there, stepping up in front of Tsuna and waving his arms in a fashion as if he were trying to chase away raccoons from a trash can. "Give the 10th some space, 'stupid jocks!"

"Crowding, are we?" in spite of the ruckus made from the baseball guys chatting and shouting to one another and exchanging insults with Gokudera, everyone there fell silent at once and, as one, turned to find two of Hibari's thugs glaring menacingly down at them. They were huge!  
Sporting their yakuza-like hair styles and the black uniforms of the Disciplinary Committee, they looked very intimidating indeed and Tsuna felt his shoulders stiffen as he prepared for the worst. 10 on 2 weren't nearly enough, he thought, and he wondered if they would beat him up as well even though he hadn't really said anything.

But then something odd happened. One of the thugs suddenly seemed to have remembered something important and shoved an elbow none too gently into his partner's side. "Ouch, what are you –" But the first guy simply gave the terrified looking group in front of them a very pointed look, eyebrows raised in a meaningful way.

Tsuna didn't get it at all, there was nothing unusual about any of them – and they really _were_ crowding and being noisy – but the thug who had just gotten elbowed seemed to get it, though.

"…You guys in the baseball club?" he asked reluctantly. Trembling violently all over, one of the boys who were already fully dressed for practice nodded timidly – or perhaps it just looked that way because he was shaking.

The two thugs exchanged glances that, again, looked very meaningful, and began to argue, or maybe discuss something rapidly in hushed voices. Tsuna could only make out the odd word or sentence of it and he was too scared, just like everyone else there, apparently, to do anything but stand frozen to the spot as the two of them went on, presumably discussing their fate.

"He said _no_ –…baseball-club… uniforms? "  
"But… such an eyesore! …crowding…!"  
"…no means _never_… want to get your ass kicked? "

That seemed to settle it. The two of them turned back to the group and, with smiles that looked very forced and yet somehow still very frightening, the first one said: "ah, ha-ha, so sorry, our bad!"

"Carry on," the other said. "Just keep it down!" he added with a sneer. And with that they simply stalked past them without as much as a backwards glance, lashing out randomly at a few innocent onlookers standing further down the hallway as they went.

Tsuna, Gokudera and the baseball guys stared after them. "That was… bizarre," muttered Gokudera. The baseball guys exchanged glances, all looking very clueless. And then Yamamoto appeared, looking energetic and cheerful as ever.

"Oh, hi guys! Tsuna, Gokudera, were you all waiting for me?" he flashed them all a big grin. Then, "err, what's wrong? Do I have something stuck in my teeth?"

They looked at him for a moment in silence before all the baseball guys started talking at once. "The Disciplinary Committee came –", "they were huge!", "– but then we told them we were in the baseball club –", "– they left, just like that!" "– so huge!"

"Ha ha, that was nice of them!" Yamamoto didn't seem to get how big of a deal it was at all. "Alright!" he clapped his hands, "no time to waste, team! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" These words of encouragement and the prospect of getting to play baseball seemed to snap everyone out of their trance and in the blink of an eye the baseball guys had formed ranks behind Yamamoto and were jogging purposefully after him down the hallway.

"See you guys later!" Yamamoto called over his shoulder; this was, of course, to Tsuna and Gokudera.

Gokudera shook his head, "…baseball-idiot."

"What do you think that was about, though," said Tsuna, half-way to himself. "I mean, Hibari's guys never go easy on anyone…"

.

In retrospect, it all made sense, though.

* * *

"What's up with that guy lately?" Gokudera frowned and scratched his cheek in an annoyed fashion. It was Saturday and Tsuna and he had just ran into a very happy but flustered-looking Yamamoto coming out from the mall with his baseball bag slung over one shoulder and carrying a plastic bag printed in fancy, psychadelic colors.  
"Usually he's like a bug and I can't get rid of him," Gokudera continued in a very matter-of-factly tone of voice, as if everyone else _obviously_ shared this opinion, "but now-a-days I can't seem to get a hold of him. And what's up with the shoes?" he added suddenly, as if he'd only just thought of it.

"Shoes?" Tsuna didn't follow.

"Yeah, didn't you see what was in the bag? That shop's really expensive, too." Gokudera knew this because he himself got all his shoes from there. "…tch! How the hell could he afford to get anything from that place? They don't even sell running shoes there. Baseball-idiot that he is…"

Tsuna looked thoughtful for a moment. He wasn't sure how to properly phrase his next sentence, but it was something he'd thought about a lot lately. "You don't reckon he's got, you know… a girlfriend, do you?"

Gokudera opened his mouth and looked like he was about to laugh out loudly, but then he closed it again and seemed to consider the suggestion seriously. "That is… entirely possible, actually," he said finally.

* * *

"Umh, shouldn't we call him first?" suggested Tsuna uncertainly. "Tell him we're coming…?" They were standing by the entrance to the sushi restaurant. Tsuna was stalling. It didn't feel _right_ going over to spy on Yamamoto like this. Gokudera, on the other hand, looked positively ecstatic. "No problem!" he said confidently, "and, anyway, it won't be proper spying if he knows we're coming!"

_He said it…! We're really spying on Yamamoto!_ Gokudera grabbed him by the hand and lead the way through the shoulder-height drapes and into the restaurant. A few scattered tables were occupied by costumers who sat together in twos and threes, conversing in quiet voices. Yamamoto's dad was nowhere to be seen.

"Excellent," whispered Gokudera, "now's our chance!"

Tsuna couldn't help but feel a little excited himself. Ignoring the puzzled looks they were getting, they snuck hurriedly through the restaurant and through the door in the back, half-hidden behind a new set of drapes, which lead to the main-house where Yamamoto and his dad lived. They shut the door behind them and momentarily leant their backs against it, took a deep breath and gave each other a determined nod. Neither of them called "hello" or "sorry to intrude" as they tip-toed further in…

.

Though it looked old fashioned and very Japanese from the outside, the main house was actually quite modern and western-inspired with shiny wooden panes on the floor, a big staircase and doors that opened outwards.

They listened intently for signs of life and Tsuna could hear the faint noises of people and cooking coming from the restaurant behind them and the traffic going by outside, a small bird was singing to itself and somewhere on the second floor a TV was on. Gokudera heard it, too, and mutely he pointed a finger upwards. Together they walked softly towards the big staircase in unspoken agreement.

And very nearly collided with Yamamoto!

He was coming out from the kitchen holding a tray with two full glasses, which he only barely managed not to drop as he jumped backwards in surprise. "Ah! Tsuna! Gokudera!"

"Uwah – ! Ha ha! Yamamoto!" Gokudera tried – ungracefully so – to conceal his yelp of surprise as laughter. Tsuna blushed a deep crimson and waved his hand weakly. "H-hi, Yamamoto," he said, "h-how are you?"

Yamamoto looked bewildered for a moment and Tsuna wondered if he might get angry. But, soon enough, his face cracked up in his usual big grin. "Ahaha, what a nice surprise! I didn't hear you coming in at all!"

Tsuna opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Gokudera. "Yeah, ha-ha, sorry about that, your dad said we could go right in."

_He's lying so easily…_ Tsuna suddenly became very aware of the two glasses on the tray Yamamoto was carrying. Two of them, and they were full too, wouldn't that mean…? Could she be here? Now?

"Say, Yamamoto," he began, glancing pointedly at the tray, "do you have someone over? If it's a bad time, we could come another time. Wouldn't want to interrupt anything," he added hurriedly. He meant it, too, and he sincerely hoped Yamamoto would tell them to leave if he had a girl in his room. It would be too embarrassing…!

"Oh, you mean these?" Yamamoto looked down at the glasses. His cheeks looked suddenly very pink. "No, I, err, I'm alone. No visitors… Ahaha," he laughed, "I just thought I'd get two servings right away so I wouldn't have to go all the way down to get seconds! Lazy, right?" He grinned.

_Yamamoto really doesn't lie easily at all, _thought Tsuna with a smile. He liked Yamamoto's honest personality. It was so painfully obvious when he was telling a lie. Especially since Yamamoto was probably the most un-lazy person in the world – with the possible exception of Ryohei…

"Cool!" Gokudera didn't seem to have noticed anything weird at all. "Hey, let's go to your room!"

Yamamoto blushed again, but Gokudera was already half-way up. "Err, my room's a real mess!" he called out in what Tsuna reckoned was an unnecessarily loud voice. _Oh man, there must really be a girl in his room and now he's trying to warn her…!_ Maybe this really was a bad idea.

.

He didn't act it, but the truth was that Yamamoto was really spoilt. His room was very big with a western style bed that was much wider than Tsuna's, and he had his own TV and two video game consoles. Brand new ones, too. It was his TV they had heard, and Tsuna notice there were _two_ Playstation controllers on the floor.  
The room wasn't messy at all. There were just the controllers, a pile of clean clothes that hadn't been sorted yet, some school things and a bed that didn't look like it had been properly made that day. Aside from that though…

There was no one there, no girl, and no mess. _Hmm, am I being over interpretive just because it feels like I'm spying?_

Gokudera, too, scanned the room, chewing distractedly at his bottom lip as he did. He looked like he wanted to examine the desk. Yamamoto searched for the remote control and, behind his back, Gokudera took a glass from the tray and winked at Tsuna. He took a small sip, coughed loudly and then, deliberately, poured the rest of the contents down the front of his t-shirt.  
"Aww, man!" he complained, tugging at his now wet shirt.

Yamamoto laughed, "Ahaha, Gokudera, come on, how old are you again? Wait here, I'll get you a towel!" He was completely oblivious to the insincerity of Gokudera's sudden clumsiness. _He's so naïve…_

As soon as Yamamoto was out the door, Gokudera flashed Tsuna a triumphant grin and headed for the desk, where he started shuffling through drawers at random, apparently not really sure what he was looking for himself. "Gokudera…" Tsuna began.

"Game plan, huh?" said Gokudera, sounding very pleased with himself. "I'm sure he must have some love-letters or purikura in here somewhere…" He took up a note book and shook it, perhaps hoping that something secret might fall out.

"Gokudera," hissed Tsuna, "I think she's _here_!"

"I- huh?"

"I think he's got his girlfriend here. Look," he pointed at the tray, "why would he bring two glasses? And he's got both the Playstation controllers out, too! Don't you think we should-"but here he was interrupted by Yamamoto's return, and the two of them bolted hurriedly away from the desk.

"Here you go," Yamamoto handed Gokudera a moist towel, but instead of taking it, Gokudera smiled the way he only smiled when he'd thought of something really clever and jumped to his feet. "You know, I'm good," he said cheerfully and strode towards the closet, "I'll just borrow a clean shirt from you! Ifyoudon'tmind," he added hastily, more out of habit than actual politeness.

_Fast thinking!,_ thought Tsuna, feeling a little impressed in spite of himself. He completely forgot about his initial uneasiness for a second and stared intently at Yamamoto, looking for a reaction. There weren't really any other hiding places in the room, so if she was really here…!

Yamamoto's eyes widened as, surely, he was realizing the same thing Tsuna had just realized and he was on his feet in the blink of an eye. "Gokudera! You don't have to, ah…!" But it was too late. Gokudera was already reaching for the door and, in one smooth motion he had yanked the sliding doors aside, all the way up to reveal…

Clothes.

There was no one there.

Tsuna realized he had been holding his breath; so had Yamamoto, apparently, because they both breathed slowly out. Gokudera's shoulders sagged visibly. "I'll, err, borrow this one," he took out a random shirt from one of the shelves, "if it's not too much…" He sounded a little disappointed. Yamamoto continued to stare at the empty closet. He looked very confused. Biting his lower lip his eyes searched wildly around the room. When his eyes met Tsuna's, he blushed, grinned and laughed, scratching his neck awkwardly.

Tsuna sat down on the semi-made bed. The pillows were scattered and the cover-blanket looked like it had been yanked half-way off. The window was open and he had the sudden image of a dress-clad girl struggling to climb out in a hurry. He shook his head and turned instead to the collection of framed photographs on the low bookshelf next to Yamamoto's bed. He looked at them while Yamamoto and Gokudera argued about some game.

There was Yamamoto with his dad at a very exotic looking place, Yamamoto and his friends and team mates in various settings – both he and Gokudera were there – and his mother. He had seen all these pictures when he'd been over before, and he'd known at first glance without anyone having to tell him that the pretty lady in that one picture had to be Yamamoto's mother. They had the same eyes and smile. She had passed away almost 6 years ago, and Tsuna wondered if Yamamoto still thought about her a lot.

And then there was one photo with no people in it at all. It was a picture of the sky on an overcast day. He couldn't remember if he'd seen that there before. He studied it, searching for shapes in the clouds, lost in thought.

No pictures of any girls and no purikura. Not even a girl cousin or Kyoko or Haru, of whom it wouldn't really be strange to have pictures, considering how much time they all spent together now. Perhaps the girl had just left or was going to come by afterwards or something. _It's probably a really fresh relationship_, he thought, _and they just don't want to tell people yet. That's ok._ _Gokudera and I really ought to beat it_. He could vividly recall every time he himself had happily jumped at the chance of spending some alone-time with Kyoko, only to be interrupted again and again until they ultimately and inevitably ended up being the same crowd as usual.

He of all people should have the decency to –

And then, suddenly, a strangely familiar song started to play…

.

"_Miiiidori tanamikuuu, Namimori nooo…"_

_._

The room fell silent. Yamamoto froze in mid-movement, his jaw clenched, eyes suddenly very wide. He looked like a deer caught in the head lights of a big, unstoppable truck. Tsuna imagined his own face must look very similar. That song! It was the school anthem of Namimori middle school, and there was only one person in the entire world who would have that song as a ring tone – because it was definitely coming from a cell-phone, that much he could tell by listening.

And the sound was coming from… Tsuna's eyes descended slowly down to the mattress he was sitting on. It came from under the bed! Hibari! Hibari's cell-phone was under Yamamoto's bed!

Yamamoto's head whipped around to where Tsuna was sitting, staring down in horror at the bed. Looking up at Yamamoto he could clearly see the millions of thoughts flying through his brain. How on earth would he explain _this_?!

Next to Yamamoto, Gokudera was looking up in the air at nothing in particular with an expression of puzzlement and distaste. "Man, I hate that song! Is that coming from _your_ cell?" It didn't seem like he'd picked up on where the sound was coming from at all. He didn't even glance at the bed.

Yamamoto's laughter sounded awkward but very relieved. "Ahaha, yeah, got to show some school pride, you know!" he said quickly. "Ha-ha!" He cast Tsuna a half-pleading, half-warning look and pretended to roam through his pockets in search of a cell that wasn't there.

Somewhere underneath Tsuna there was a faint shuffling, the tiny jingle of a phone-strap, a click – and then the song ended abruptly.

"So uncool," continued Gokudera, perfectly oblivious. "You should hook up with Hibari – "here Yamamoto blushed violently again, "– he's got it for a ring-tone, too. You could make a club. Plus," he added, "He's taught that pet-bird of his to sing it. Haven't you heard?"

"Err, yeah, ha-ha, cute bird," stuttered Yamamoto, still bright red in the face.

Tsuna glanced at the photographs again, eyes lingering on the one with the overcast sky on it…

"Hey, Yamamoto," said Gokudera suddenly, as if he'd just thought of something, "what happened to your cherry blossom?"  
"My what?" Yamamoto's eyes kept darting back and forth between the bed, Tsuna, who was sitting on top of it, and Gokudera, who had turned his attention back to the TV. A few tiny drops of sweat glittered at his temples.  
"Your cherry blossom. You had a whole bucket full of them last time I was here."  
"Yeah, I, err, not everybody likes them, you know," muttered Yamamoto weakly. His cheeks looked very hot. "Weird, huh…"

_Yeah, like, someone who got sick from them once, maybe? _Tsuna remembered how Hibari had suddenly abandoned the opportunity to kick their asses once, after that time when they'd fought against Mukuro, just because he suddenly seemed to have discovered how many cherry trees there were on the school property. _Someone who was beaten and then locked up in a room afterwards because the cherry blossom made it so he couldn't move… someone like that wouldn't want cherry blossoms around. _

_Wow…wow! Oh man! Hibari, the secret person hiding in Yamamoto's room was Hibari, under his bed. _This_ bed! I'm sitting on top of Hibari Kyoya!_

"Who doesn't like cherry blossom? Everybody likes them. Oh look, a feather!" Still clueless, Gokudera picked out a tiny feather from where it had been stuck in the seaming of the shirt he had just borrowed from Yamamoto. It was very small and bright yellow.

_Hibari's bird! Doesn't he get it…?_

"Hey, Gokudera!" he jumped out of the bed, quickly and suddenly as if he'd burned himself on it, and grabbed Gokudera by the shoulder, yanking him up. "We _really_ ought to get going! See you later, Yamamoto!" And without further ado, he bolted through the door, leaving a very baffled-looking Yamamoto behind. Down the stairs they went and out into the restaurant, where they almost crashed into Yamamoto's dad who was balancing a stack of dirty plates on one arm.

.

"Why, hello guys, long time no see!" He grinned like his son. "Takeshi's in his room. I think he's still sleeping, but you're free to wake him up, he-he!"

_He doesn't know about Hibari either!_ Tsuna smiled his most polite smile and said, "oh no, we couldn't possibly. We'll just come back later! Have a nice day!"

And then, finally, they were outside in the sunshine again. And Hibari hadn't chased after them like some homicidal ogre from a nightmare and Tsuna thought that his chances of making it through the day alive had just gone up a notch.

"Aww, talk about pointless trip," said Gokudera with a yawn. "No secret stuff, no hot pictures, no over-the-top cute plush toys and no one hiding in the closet… I'm starting to think he doesn't have a girlfriend! I mean –"seeing the look he was getting from Tsuna, he interrupted himself, "what? Why are you looking at me like that?"

_He didn't… He didn't get it! I guess being clever at school doesn't automatically make you clever with people. _Tsuna suddenly couldn't help but laugh. "You are even denser than Yamamoto sometimes, you know that?"

.

"Well…" Yamamoto slumped heavily down on the floor by his bed and leant his head all the way back until it rested on the mattress. He sighed heavily and gave a small chuckle. "That went well." He cocked his head sideways and spoke through the mattress, "wouldn't you say? You can come out now, Kyoya," he added. Hibari crawled out from beneath the thick cover blanket, his hair looked messy and his cheeks were pink.

"I thought they'd never leave," he muttered darkly.

"Do you think…?" Yamamoto paused, unsure of what to say next. "What do you think they…thought?" he finished sheepishly.

"I don't care," said Hibari, yawned, and flashed Yamamoto a self-assured sideways smirk. "And if those weak fledglings so much as give me, or you, an odd look I'll bite them to death. Forget about them, I want to play more Playstation."

.

Later, just before he fell asleep in Yamamoto's lap he murmured, "You'll have to change your ring-tone, now, you know."

* * *

Yamamoto and… Hibari? No.

Tsuna decided, in the end, not to tell Gokudera what he thought he might have discovered. Because, once he wasn't sitting mere inches away from the highly dangerous and unpredictable Hibari anymore and didn't have to listen to Yamamoto's ridiculously bad lying; once he had calmed himself down a little and thought it through for a while, alone, he realized he was being unfair.

There was no doubt it had really been Hibari there – but that didn't have to mean… Tsuna had been so sure they would find a girl, or at least some clues that there really was a girl, that he figured his judgment might very well have been a little clouded by that. Because he thought he already knew what he'd see, he reasoned, he might have sort of subconsciously decided to perceive everything he saw to fit that image – or something like that.

There was probably some good explanation – or _an_ explanation, anyway – as to why Hibari would be in Yamamoto's room, hiding under his bed.

Not that Yamamoto might not still have a secret girlfriend, Tsuna still very firmly believed that he did, but it didn't have to be Hibari. It probably wasn't. It couldn't be! It was very hard to see how someone as popular and cheerful and _warm_ as Yamamoto could possibly get involved with Hibari, who was so… well, the scariest, most selfish and by far most mysterious person Tsuna knew.

No. No, no, no… impossible.

What on earth could two people who were so different possibly get from a relationship with each other?

He didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't help it.  
Hibari, though he looked like hell had spat him out when he fought, had that cool, pale beauty so many admired and strived to achieve – the perfect Japanese beauty, he thought. He had thought that once before, when they were in the future, and Hibari had appeared one night dressed in a simple black kimono, holding Gokudera's crazy box cat in one hand. The curve of his slender wrist, and the white skin on the back of his hand looked like something they might read about in Japanese class, about the Geishas or something.  
Yamamoto, on the other hand, looked like he could be doing Calvin Cline commercials…

They would undoubtedly – and he still tried very hard not to think about it – make a stunning couple.

* * *

"Hey, 10th," Gokudera didn't bother taking off his shoes as they entered the school building. "It's already past eight; couldn't you just come in early tomorrow?"  
"No," Tsuna was careful to change into his indoor-slippers. Old habits, and all that… "I won't have time tomorrow. I'll study all night if I have to," they headed for the stairs leading up to the 3rd years' classrooms. "Reborn says he'll have my head if I score lower than 60% and, knowing him, I'll be lucky, actually, if that's all he takes. And knowing _me_," he added somberly, "I'll be even luckier to score over 60…"

Suddenly, as they were nearing the classroom, Tsuna halted. He reached out and, placing a hand on Gokudera's chest, made him stop too. There was someone there! Someone inside their classroom was breathing heavily and they could hear soft moans and shuffling. It sounded, it sounded like someone was making out…

Gokudera looked at him, cocking his eyebrows. They had to see, hadn't they?

Giving each other a determined nod, they bent down and crawled on all fours the rest of the way to the classroom, careful to make as little noise as possible. That was when it struck Tsuna and he thought he might just know who it was in there, because there really weren't a lot of people at school this late. Could it be Yamamoto and…? With a sense of foreboding Tsuna leant forward to peek through the slight gap in the sliding door.

.

And there they were, the two of them, easily recognizable, and Tsuna had been right. They were silhouetted sharply against the soft dirty-orange light from outside.

Hibari sat on top of a desk, his head thrown back. He used one hand to help himself sit upright; the other was tangled firmly in Yamamoto's unruly black hair. Yamamoto was leaning over him, one hand resting at the small of Hibari's back, pressing them closer together, the other was down the front of his open slacks, moving rhythmically. He was kissing Hibari's neck, licking his jaw and extracting small moans and sighs of pleasure.

Next to him, Gokudera's mouth was agape. Tsuna shot him a warning look and shook his head soundlessly. The last thing they wanted now was for Hibari's exceptional ears to pick up on them being there. Though he didn't want to, not really, Tsuna somehow found that he couldn't look away. It was as if reality was trying to hammer the fact into him that, as unbelievable as it seemed, as _impossible _as this couple was, Yamamoto was really in love with Hibari, and it appeared very much as if the feeling was mutual.

Hibari pulled Yamamoto's shirt up and, leaning closer, he started to kiss Yamamoto on the stomach and hips. Yamamoto drew his breath in sharply – he sounded winded, panting as if he'd been running. He pushed Hibari's shoulders down until he was on his back on the desk, never ceasing to kiss and caress every available spot on the other's skin. There was a loud crash as the desk toppled over. Loose sheets of paper fluttered like snow through the air, and on the floor, Yamamoto and Hibari were on top of each other, their kisses becoming deeper and fiercer.

We have to leave, thought Tsuna. What if they decide to… _do it_ here?

Yamamoto was on top, pinning down Hibari's wrists with both of his hands, sucking and biting gently on Hibari's neck, his lower lip and his ear. Hibari moaned softly.

Then Hibari was on top, knees on each side of Yamamoto's chest, their lips never parting as he yanked the front of Yamamoto's shirt open. Yamamoto pushed himself up from the floor, so that Hibari ended up sitting in his lap and, with almost desperate movements began to unbutton his shirt.

Suddenly, their kiss broke. Both of them looked flushed, with pink cheeks and disheveled hair, and both sounded like they were out of breath. Yamamoto's hands were still holding Hibari's shirt. They were looking at each other, and their gazes were so intense and tentative and meaningful, that only now did Tsuna feel like he was intruding on something truly private. He realized that both he and Gokudera were holding their breaths.

Yamamoto spoke in a thick voice. "Do you… want to go to my place?"

In the semi-darkness, Hibari nodded.

.

Now it was Gokudera and Tsuna who gave each other meaningful glances, only the meaning of theirs was _run_! They crawled backwards as quickly as they could without making too much noise and, reaching the stairs, they got up and scurried down like a pair of cockroaches.

* * *

Tsuna ended up not sleeping at all that night. He realized, half-way home, that he had forgotten to change back to his shoes and wondered if Yamamoto and Hibari might notice and realize they had been spied on while making out in the classroom. Something about Hibari made him seem like the kind of guy who could smell it, or something, whenever something suspicious was up. Also, he couldn't stop thinking about it. Those two together… Come to think of it, he had never actually seen anyone make out before. Small pecks on the cheek and such, that he had seen, and done, too, but that was it.

They had moved so naturally together, even with their motions being so desperate and wanting, and Tsuna wondered if the oh-so popular Yamamoto had ever kissed someone before. He must have had plenty of offers. He couldn't think of anyone who would dare to kiss Hibari – he supposed this was a testament to Yamamoto's bravery.

And now they were probably at Yamamoto's place, continuing where they had left off. It wasn't that hard to picture, and Tsuna blushed.

.

.

The next morning turned out to be even worse than he had imagined it would be. Even though he had been up all night, he hadn't been able to concentrate on his upcoming test at all as images of Yamamoto and Hibari together had kept flashing by behind his eyes. In addition to being super-sleepy to the point where it was all he could do not to fall asleep at his desk, the test was impossibly difficult and, worst of all, or at least by far most distractingly, Yamamoto was practically beaming...

He seemed to be in a particularly good mood, even for him, which, as always, rubbed off on everyone else as well, with the two exceptions of Tsuna and Gokudera, who also didn't look like he had slept much.

"Hey, Tsuna!" Yamamoto slumped down on the empty seat next to Tsuna. "Good morning, Gokudera! Boy, you two look really sleepy," he scratched his head. His face was one big grin. "Did you stay up late to study or something?"

Gokudera, who was sitting on Tsuna's desk glared at him. "Shouldn't you be sleepier than us, though?" he muttered darkly. It wasn't really a question. Tsuna blushed.

"Me? Ha-ha, no I just went with my gut-feeling as usual," replied Yamamoto, oblivious to the underlying implications. "Anyways, I gotta go talk to my coach! See you later!" Bouncing off the seat he disappeared through the classroom door, still grinning like an idiot.

* * *

"This isn't good," said Reborn. He looked grave.

"Why not?" Tsuna looked puzzled. "I don't see how you… Is this a mafia thing? Is it really a big deal?" They were in Tsuna's room. Tsuna sat cross-legged by the bed, and had just finished his story of how Gokudera and he accidentally had nearly walked in on Yamamoto and Hibari doing _things_, and how they, not so accidentally, had discovered Hibari hiding in Yamamoto's room just a couple of days before that. He felt it was a matter he needed Reborn to know about, and he also desperately needed to get it off his chest. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but it certainly wasn't the grimness Reborn had responded with.

"No, it really is a big deal," said Reborn. He sounded serious, but there was an undertone of exasperation there as well. "This is why I wanted to wait. Making a bunch of middle-schoolers guardians of the 10th… these things are bound to happen."

Seeing Tsuna's confused face he decided to continue. "You see, your guardians are hand-picked because, right now, they are perfect for their roles. I'm sure you'll agree with me on this." Tsuna's thoughts involuntarily wandered to Mukuro, who claimed he was only in it for a chance of ultimately taking over Tsuna's body, and Hibari, who was just as likely to kick _their_ asses as the enemy's. "And I will admit their performances have stunned me, both in relation to you as the 10th, but also on the battle field. If they _changed_, however, they would no longer be fit to be your guardians. To put it simply, their rings would lose their powers, they might even shatter or refuse their owners, as you saw happen when Xanxus tried to take your ring, remember?"

"I remember," said Tsuna, but he still looked confused. "I still don't get it, though. Why would they change so much?"  
"Think about yourself, Tsuna. When I first tested your potential with the Dying Will bullets, what did you do? What was it that kept you from accepting death?"  
"I- that was… Kyoko," Tsuna blushed and the words came out as a mumbling. "I confessed to Kyoko."  
"Yes and you were, what, 12? 13? And you couldn't let go because of her. Imagine now. You're 15 now, feelings like that only grow stronger, Tsuna."

He shook his head thoughtfully. "No. This is not good..."

.

.

**More wasted space…**: please review (o^_^o) I promised myself I wasn't going to write that… But getting them just really made my day, so I'm writing it anyway! Oh, and chapter 3 is roughly half-done…


	3. Chapter 3

**Warnings**: boys' love! 8018  
**Rating**: T (rated for the above, plus the usual violence and bad language)  
**Chapter summary**: Dino enters the scene! Does Yamamoto have a rival?  
**Disclaimers**: I don't own KHR (if I did Kyoko and Haru would get in on the action, too – _"let's work hard and do the laundry"_?! I mean, come _on_!)

**Author's waste of space**: You guys are the best, thank you so much for reading chapter 2 as well. Getting reviews might just be the most fun thing that's happened to me in weeks! We learned about giving feedback last semester, and I have to say you guys would have made my teacher proud – you're constructive, thorough and leave me with the feeling that all I want to do is write more ;D

I need to make an apology before you can start reading... I'm being a little bad to Dino in this chapter, so I just want to say in advance that I really, really like him (the preview with him in it - episode 6, I think - was actually what kept me watching for another couple of episodes). But for the sake of this specific case - the case of my story and this chapter - I needed him to show a less sunny side of himself. Originally I was planning on using Mukuro, but I think that if I let him into the mix he would end up taking over the entire fic!

Also, I mention Dino and Hibari's training here - you know, during the ring battles. In this story I say that they took breaks, but I don't really think they did. I seriously believe that they didn't stop fighting at all during the period of time between the start of their training and the point where Hibari enters the scene after Gokudera's fight.

Ok, now you can read...

.

.

:+:+: Chapter 3 :+:+:

_On birds, in a sense…_

_._

_He recalled one warm afternoon, he and Hibari had been sparring – weapons only – and rested in the grass afterwards.  
_"_How did you get the bird to be your pet like that?" he had asked, watching in fascination as the little bird landed on Hibari's outstretched finger, chirping, "Hibari, Hibari."  
_"_Hmm?" Hibari, who didn't seem to have broken so much as a drop of sweat turned lazily towards him. "That is the stupidest question you have ever asked me," he said, yawning. "You have no subtlety, Yamamoto Takeshi."_

_But Yamamoto continued to stare at him with his eyebrows raised expectantly. Finally, Hibari sighed and with a small mysterious smile he said, "There's a trick to taming birds."_

_Another pause…_

"_So, what's the trick?"_

_._

The morning after their first kiss, Yamamoto had not been able to concentrate on anything. He kept missing out on what people were saying to him and before 3rd period had even begun, Gokudera had whacked him with a ruler, a Geography text-book, his fist and one of his shoes ("Pay attention, stupid baseball-jackass! 'The hell's wrong with you today?"), and both Tsuna and Kyoko had asked him gently if he was feeling alright or if he wanted them to accompany him downstairs to the infirmary. Oh, and he kept grinning, another thing that seemed to really get on Gokudera's nerves ("And wipe that stupid grin off your face before I do!").

"You look like something good happened to you," commented Tsuna in a casual voice, while smiling a small smile of his own like he knew something out of the ordinary was up.

But Yamamoto wasn't paying attention. He kept glancing out the window toward the school roof where the water tower was and, for no reason at all, he would feel a punch in his guts that he reckoned had very little to do with sore abs.

.

Finally, just before lunch, he saw him – the black uniform jacket like a cloak behind him.

"Ah, Hibari!" Instantly, he felt the pulse at his neck start beating violently, as if someone had pushed a button inside him. He felt nervous and slightly embarrassed and very, very excited.

When Hibari looked up sideways and saw who it was, his eyes widened briefly, just a little, but enough so that Yamamoto saw it – and didn't his cheeks look a little pink, too? This unusual display of recognition, however, was quickly followed by a very much standard line, delivered in a flat and hostile voice: "What do you want?"

"Ahaha, I just, err, you know…" half-walking half-jogging to keep up with Hibari's purposeful strides, "I just wanted to say hi!" they were soon nearly shoulder to shoulder. "How are you?"

"Better than you have ever been or ever will be," muttered Hibari, without meeting his eyes, "Now get lost, Yamamoto Takeshi." But Yamamoto, who got that sort of thing from Gokudera at least twice every half-hour, continued to keep up and didn't get himself lost at all.

"I take it you got home safely last night?" he said; grinning because just then, and all that day, he couldn't for the life of him remember how not to smile.

Hibari was not smiling. He was glaring suspiciously up at Yamamoto. "Clearly. And I have no use for concern from the likes of you," he added.

"Anyway, thanks for walking home with me," Yamamoto began, "I get off practice at the same hour every night, so if you want to – err, do it again…" his voice trailed off, suddenly hesitant because he suddenly decided he cared very much what Hibari might say and think after all... But then, _no guts no glory_, "I'll be there, in the classroom!" he finished. There – he'd said it. He didn't know what to expect at all, because it sounded oh-so very obvious that he wasn't really talking about walking home together at all, and truthfully he wasn't – and the somewhat tragic thought that Hibari might not have enjoyed the… _other thing_ they had done the previous night, struck him like a hammer.

There was a pause and, for a second there Yamamoto thought he saw a hint of the same curiosity in Hibari's eyes as he had seen that time when he had handed over the lunch box his father had sent him (_"For me?"_)_._

"I'm not a dog," Hibari's dark eyes looked suddenly suspicious again; "and I have better things to do with my time than chaperone spineless bottom feeders to their doorstep." He made to turn his burning gaze back to the corridor in front of him, when his head suddenly snapped back up. "And why are you still here?"  
Yamamoto stopped, mouth half-way open as he stared after Hibari's back, ready to say something – anything – before he turned that corner...

But it was Hibari who spoke next. Just before he reached the corner, he turned his head and looked back at Yamamoto over his shoulder with an almost mischievous smirk.  
"The kissing was fun though…"  
And then he was gone, leaving behind a baffled Yamamoto who felt suddenly out of breath.

.

They actually did end up walking home together that night. At first he was sure Hibari wouldn't show up – of course he wouldn't, why would he… But he kept stalling, dragging out the time for as long as he thought he could after practice. He tied both his shoe laces very neatly, he walked around the empty dark classroom, twice, shuffled through his notes… until, finally, he gave up and, thinking he might have better luck another night, threw his bag over his shoulder and pulled aside the sliding doors, preparing to go home alone.

And there he was, just outside the classroom, as if he, too, had been waiting. He stood with his arms folded across his chest, back resting against the wall, looking up at him from under his long dark hair. "Hey."

His smile looked somehow both dangerous and strangely amused at the same time. "Hmm. If I didn't know any better I'd say you didn't want to go home, Yamamoto Takeshi."

_He must have been watching me all this time_, Yamamoto realized, and he blushed violently, feeling suddenly unbelievably embarrassed – it must have been so _obvious_…

"Yeah, ahaha," Yamamoto scratched his neck. "I just, err, love school so much!" _Man_, Hibari looked pretty…! "And I have a test," he added, "Soon, maybe... I think." Then he laughed, because his excuses sounded so stupid even to him and because _Hibari was here! He actually came…!_

* * *

They met in Yamamoto's classroom the night after that, too, and the night after that, and the night after that…

Sometimes Hibari would keep him waiting, like the first night, other nights he would already be in the classroom when Yamamoto arrived, sweaty and winded, straight from practice. Sometimes he only walked with Yamamoto half the way before muttering something about having changed his mind, while the next night he might accompany him all the way to his doorstep and on one occasion he even came all the way in and up to his room – and then they had made out on Yamamoto's bed for almost half an hour. Yamamoto reckoned that night had definitely been the best…

Feeling Hibari's skin through the thin fabric of his shirt had been exhilarating, and those little sounds he made and those ridiculously beautiful eyes. And how Hibari's hands moved under his shirt and touched his shoulders and chest and tangled in his hair… And even if it was just his dad, out in the shop, who couldn't possibly hear them anyway, it was still somehow really, really exciting to try and be quiet and make as little noise as possible.

It got to the point where going home was the part of the day he looked forward to the most.

.

Aside from that, though, being with Hibari was not really that different from not being with him; he was no less mysterious – Yamamoto still didn't even know where he lived – totally unpredictable, there were only slightly less insults and Yamamoto was still just as prone as everyone else to threats of biting and mauling as a result of him being a pathetically weak plant-eater. Also, he still blatantly refused to call him by anything other than his full name.

In spite of all of that, though – perhaps even because of it – Yamamoto found he couldn't stop thinking about him. Kyoya... He could spot him anywhere, he never missed a chance to use his name – even when he would _say_ Hibari, at the same time as he said it he would _think_ Kyoya – and, some days, he would deliberately forget his necktie or miss the trash can when he threw away his milk box. Anything to get Kyoya's attention… Even when he was only a hair's breadth away from having his precious right arm smothered by one of those tonfas, he couldn't help but feel excited.

Hibari reminded Yamamoto a little bit of a cat. A cat with a new, mysterious toy – he clearly wasn't used to being around another person like this and was probably testing his boundaries, pushing and prodding and examining – curious, intrigued, but also wary and suspicious. But that was fine. As long as he got to call him Kyoya, and walk next to him and watch him sleep – it was all good.

* * *

"Hey, Yamamoto," Tsuna turned around in his chair. "I forgot to ask, did you ever get to thank Hibari for helping you out that time?"  
Two students were wandering purposefully up and down the seat rows between their desks, handing out test results, and most of the other students took advantage of the temporary break to chatter.  
"For rescuing my uniform jacket, you mean?" said Yamamoto with a chuckle, "yup, I think I did a pretty good job! I had my whole team sing the school anthem during practice." _And then I kissed him._

Tsuna burst out laughing – he, too, seemed to be in a good mood that day. "He is so single-minded! Why didn't we just think of that right away?"

There was a gasp.

"You scored _what_?" Gokudera was suddenly staring at him in disbelief. He grabbed the freshly graded test paper from Yamamoto's desk without asking permission and scrutinized it suspiciously.

"Would you look at that! 85%!" Yamamoto announced happily, folding his hands behind his head. "'Guess I got really lucky!"

"Wow," Tsuna leant over Gokudera's shoulder to see for himself. "Way to go, Yamamoto! I only scored 32%," he grinned and scratched his neck, looking embarrassed. "Maybe I should get you to teach me biology."

"Geez," Gokudera handed back the sheet, looking just a tiny little bit impressed in spite of himself. "And here I was thinking you couldn't even _spell_ mitochondria… And your food-chain charts were evenbetterthanmine." He muttered the last part very quickly as if he didn't really want anyone to hear him – including himself.

Grinning widely Yamamoto flashed a V-sign.

"Umh, guys, Dino is coming over next week," said Tsuna, carelessly stuffing his sad test-paper in the pocket of his school bag. "And I think Reborn has some elaborate stuff planned, so –"

"Cool! Has he said anything about what?"

"He hasn't said anything _at all_," said Tsuna grimly, "which probably means we'll be doing something huge... possibly illegal and probably really, really dangerous…"

"Ahaha, sounds like fun! It's never boring around you, Tsuna!"

"Don't I know it," muttered Tsuna gravely. "Anyway, hope you'll come – mum's started cooking already, you know how she is."

"'Course we'll be there!"

"You can always count on me, 10th!"

* * *

"Tsuna, little bro'! How 'you been?" Dino opened his arms as he stepped out of the black car with a dazzling smile, looking very handsome. His suit-clad sub-ordinates, who all worshipped their young boss, were fussing about him, carrying his things and scouting the quiet sub-urban neighborhood street with their eyes on the look-out for potential dangers.

"Hey guys," he greeted Gokudera and Yamamoto, "Ready for some exercise?"  
"_I_ am ready for _anything_!" declared Gokudera confidently. Tsuna rolled his eyes but Yamamoto laughed, "Sounds like fun! Bring it on!"

"So, Dino, how was your flight?" asked Tsuna conversationally, picking up Dino's pet turtle, which was crawling purposefully away from the car.

"Awful, actually, my shoulders hurt like cra – …" Dino glanced around, suddenly wary. "Kyoya isn't around, is he? 'Cause I'm _really_ not keen on fighting him right now…"

"Ah nope, Kyoya's at school," said Yamamoto helpfully without thinking.

"Oh good," Dino breathed a sigh of relief, which ended abruptly as he cocked his head, looking like he wasn't really sure if he'd heard correctly. Tsuna and Gokudera glanced sideways at each other. It was only two days since their highly disturbing and very unbelievable discovery that night in the classroom. They still hadn't talked about it, and with the exception of Reborn, they hadn't mentioned it to anybody.

"Here, let me take your bag," Yamamoto, completely clueless, took Dino's suitcase from Romario and carried it into Tsuna's house.

Dino shrugged, grinned and followed, one arm slung casually around Tsuna's shoulders.

.

Tsuna's mother really _had_ been cooking since the week before. She was so fond of Dino and expressed it generously by dishing up one exotic looking meal after the other – Yamamoto didn't know what most of it was and he couldn't pronounce half of it but it all tasted excellent. Dino was telling them about Italy and it seemed like neither Kyoko, Haru or Tsuna's mother could peel their eyes off him as he spoke – or when he stopped speaking.

Yamamoto was enjoying himself, but his mind kept wandering to Hibari who, instead of showing up himself had sent two guys from the Disciplinary Committee who, even though they couldn't possibly be older than 15, were currently playing some sort of drinking game with Romario and another one of Dino's henchmen, and he couldn't really concentrate on the conversation. He wanted to see Kyoya! Or just talk to him or whatever.

He felt his pockets to check that he had his cell with him and, excusing himself, snuck outside.

.

.

Yamamoto stood in the shadow, just out of reach from the warm light streaming out from the porch. Dino was about to call out to him – they would be training together the following day and Dino wanted to decide on a time and place for them to meet up – when Yamamoto suddenly lifted a cell to his ear. "Kyoya?"

Dino stopped - there he'd said it again. _Kyoya_. But surely it couldn't be…

"Yeah, we're all at Tsuna's place right now… he-he, yup, huge crowd, you'd hate it here." …only, surely it _had_ to be… "How about afterwards? …no, anywhere you want, I'll come… ok, later!"

Even though it was dark Dino could see the tell-tale smile on Yamamoto's face as he hung up; not the big amiable grin he normally wore, but a small secret smile saved for special things. And Dino knew, because there was no mistaking it, that Yamamoto was in love.

.

Yamamoto turned around and started as he spotted Dino standing behind him. "Ah, Dino!" he laughed, "I didn't hear you! Sorry, I just had to make a phone call."

But Dino wasn't listening. His normally sunny expression was gone, replaced by something Yamamoto couldn't quite read. He contemplated him with a serious look on his face, as if he were seeing him for the first time, measuring him.

"Err, did you want something?" Yamamoto waved his hand back and forth to snap Dino out of his apparent hypnosis. "I'll be heading back inside now…"

"He lets you call him Kyoya," said Dino suddenly. It was more a statement than a question, and he made no sign that he had heard a word of what Yamamoto had said.

"Ahaha," Yamamoto felt his cheeks grow hot, "'guess you heard, huh." _How long was he standing there?_ He sincerely hoped it was too dark for Dino to see that he was blushing.

"Looks like someone managed to unruffled Kyoya's feathers at last," said Dino, still as if he wasn't really listening. "I'm kind of impressed actually."

"Oh," Yamamoto waved his hands dismissively, "that's, err –"

"Are you really friends?"

_What's up with this guy? _His face looked so stony, and his gentle eyes were suddenly icy. Yamamoto scratched his neck – now he was really blushing, he just _knew_ he was – "yeah, err, something like that!" He tried to laugh.

"Something like that, huh," echoed Dino. His gaze was intense. Dino can really be kind of scary, too, thought Yamamoto.  
"Say, Yamamoto…" Dino cocked his head to the side, "'you up for a little fight?"

_What the -?!_ "Fight? You mean - right now?" Yamamoto felt very confused.

"Yeah, I challenge you."

Upon hearing the word 'challenge', however – "Game on!" as if on reflex, Yamamoto accepted at once without thinking. "But not here," he added firmly, "I don't want to fight in Tsuna's garden."

Dino nodded, "of course," and – finally – he smiled. "There's that park not far from here, right? There shouldn't be anyone there now, after dark."

* * *

Yamamoto snuck inside just to grab his sword and then he and Dino left without a word to anyone about where they were going or for what purpose.

Yamamoto kept throwing glances up at Dino. He was excited at the prospect of fighting him, but worried, too, a little, because Dino wasn't acting himself at all, and now he looked completely lost in thought. Dino had been Hibari's tutor back when they fought for the rings, maybe – suddenly he recalled something Hibari had told him about Dino ("If you get bored with him, just lure him away from his little flower-chewing pals and tell him to touch his toes. It's priceless.").

"Umh, I –"he stopped. "No disrespect or anything, but shouldn't we bring along Romario, too?"

"Huh?" Dino's face was blank for a second, then he grinned – looking, for a moment, blissfully like his usual self again. "No worries, I have a plan B for special occasions like this!"

.

The park was empty, of course, which looked strangely _wrong_ for a playground; almost spooky. Yamamoto pulled out his sword and thought about all the things he had heard about Dino and about what an excellent fighter he supposedly was. He grinned and hoped they were all true.

If Yamamoto had been someone else, anyone else, perhaps, he might have recognized the fire in Dino's eyes for what it was. If he hadn't been so focused on the fight, on dodging the singing snap of the whip and trying to predict Dino's movements, he might have read more into the clenched jaw and the whitening knuckles clutching the whip than he did.

Maybe he would have realized that Dino was jealous…

* * *

Dino thought of Hibari, lying in the grass during the laughably brief breaks between their sparring-sessions, looking deceptively angelic in his sleep – he had been jealous then, too, only it had been of someone else; of Rokudo Mukuro.

Nothing stirred more emotions in those beautiful features than the mere mention of that hateful name, and Kyoya would kick, strike, _fight_ – relentlessly, until his body wore out and he eventually lost consciousness. He had showed no interest in the ring, except briefly when he discovered the flame, and Dino knew the only reason he had chosen to be a part of it all was because Reborn had told him that he might get a chance to face off against Mukuro again.

Thinking back on it now, however, he started to remember other things. Like how there was only one battle Kyoya had wanted to see and how, before that, after Yamamoto had caught his tonfa in the hallway, he had suddenly fought with a new kind of intensity, and how he had gone to help Yamamoto even though he was badly injured and didn't really have anything to gain by doing it… Had it started already back then?

.

.

Reborn had only told him a little about Hibari before he had gone to see him for the first time. _A problem-child_, he had said, and Dino had passed by one big brutish-looking teenager after another on his way to he reception room of Namimori middle school, where he had been told he would find Hibari, all wearing the prefects' red armband, and Dino's imagination had conjured up images of the head prefect, the chief ogre, as some sort of great half-monster. If he bossed these guys around and was half as scary as Reborn had described him…

But when they entered the reception room there was no green-skinned Hulk who sat laid-back in the leather sofa, legs crossed, glancing up at them with apparent disinterest from under long lashes. Hibari Kyoya was slight, almost delicate, and looked most of all like a porcelain doll.

Dino wanted to laugh- _this_ was the problem-child? This _pretty-boy_ was the infamous Hibari Kyoya?

And then the doll opened his mouth. And Dino never underestimated him again.

* * *

He spun around, blocking the upward swipe from Yamamoto's long slender blade - the blunt side of it, obviously. He really fought wonderfully.

.

He hadn't wanted to admit it, not even to himself, not even now – in the middle of the fight he had spontaneously challenged Yamamoto to based on a conversation that had lasted roughly 2 minutes – that he… that Kyoya was…

Not even when he got back to Italy and found he had suddenly lost interest in the gorgeous, flaxen-haired Swedish girls he normally dated and instead sought out pale, raven-haired beauties with empty, seductive eyes – not even then had he let himself think it.

He thought of Kyoya's sleeping face again and regretted, with a sudden painful tug in his chest, that he hadn't simply bent down and kissed him. He hadn't had the courage, hadn't even wanted to say the words out loud inside his own head…  
And then Yamamoto spoke them, "you like him, too, don't you."

He had stopped and was standing atop of a slide shaped like an elephant, sword hanging at his side; his eyes were calm and honest.

Dino felt as if someone had emptied a bucket of boiling hot water over his head. There they were – the words. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead he lowered his whip and smiled awkwardly – was he really that transparent, or was Yamamoto just that good? Reborn had praised Yamamoto's oddly accurate gut-feeling on more than one occasion, though he was reluctant about saying it in front of Yamamoto himself, lest it blew his ego out of proportions…

He drew his breath in preparation for a denial, but then let it all out, slowly. Finally he nodded and with a half-smile he said, "yeah, something like that."

Yamamoto scratched his neck, looking suddenly a little embarrassed – he probably hadn't meant to say it out loud. "I just thought that maybe you did," he said, a little hesitantly. He looked down, swallowed.

When he looked up he was smiling, but his eyes were sharp and determined. "That's why I'll be honest with you. Kyoya is with me."

* * *

"So how do you pull off something like that?" They were walking back home. Fighting suddenly didn't seem as important to either of them just then.

The streets were empty of people and it was very quiet. Yellow and orange cones of light shone down from the street lamps, making the streets glow and glittering off small, fluttering insect-wings.

The sound that escaped Yamamoto next was almost a giggle, "I kissed him," he scratched his neck.

Dino raised his eyebrows, "that was - what's the phrase again? - either really brave or really stupid!" He laughed, and Yamamoto couldn't help but join in - the thought of kissing Hibari would have sounded completely farfetched to him if he, himself, hadn't been the one who had done it.

Feeling that the tension between them had lifted somewhat, Yamamoto took the opportunity to ask the question he had been dying to ask since before their fight, "hey, Dino, what _is_ your plan B?"

"Huh? Oh, he-he, that..." Dino pulled up his sleeve and inch or so and revealed a very expensive-looking wrist watch. "I just do like this -" he pressed a miniscule button, "and voíla!" The little display changed from square digital numbers into a crystal clear image of three familiar faces; Dino's loyal subjects with Romario in the middle. "Nice!" Yamamoto was fascinated to no end by the watch and it's seemingly endless list of functions - like how you could check the current air temperature in 24 different world capitols while you were 300 ft under water - and as they walked Dino told him about how important appearances were for young Italian men - not that he had gotten the watch too boost his own ego, exactly - and how, when they moved out from their parents', they would buy themselves exclusive-looking watches and sports cars rather than such dull but necessarry things as towels and forks and knives.

They were walking close together now, shoulder to shoulder, heads nearly touching as they toyed with the watch. Yamamoto looked up and suddenly he spotted, to his great surprise, Hibari standing in front of them, just a little ahead. He had his arms crossed and, as he watched them, his lip curled in obvious disgust.

Yamamoto waved energetically and then Dino saw him, too. Both of them were grinning brightly like a couple of kindergarteners and Hibari's eye twitched.

"Hey, Kyoya!" Dino called.  
"Kyoya, hi!" called Yamamoto.  
"How are ya?"

"…I think I'm gonna loose my lunch," Hibari drawled darkly. Without another word he turned on his heel and strode away from the two of them. Yamamoto dashed after him, laughing, "hey, Kyoya, wait up! Thanks for the fight, Dino," he called over his shoulder, "see you tomorrow!"

* * *

Dino watched their backs as they respectively walked and ran away. Yamamoto Takeshi and Kyoya...  
He wondered if they kissed or did... _other things._ It would make sense though, actually, if that was it, because, to Kyoya, that would present something new and interesting; something to figure out and hold his attention.

He started to walk casually back to Tsuna's house by himself.

Hibari reminded Dino a little of a bird in that aspect; a dangerous bird. It was very, very difficult and highly risky to try and get his attention, and he bit you very hard if you tried to touch him, but once you got Kyoya fascinated by something, it was pretty much just like dangling some exotic toy in front of a pet bird.

And the funny part was that it was completely random, or it seemed random, at least, what caught his interest. Contrary to his sex in general, Kyoya was not the least bit interested in electronic devices, for instance. He just – it was almost effeminate, in an oddly self-confident way, the way Kyoya would randomly push buttons and shake things and then expect them to work flawlessly.

He had a colorful memory of the time he had let Kyoya drive his car… with him in it. He had almost died.

.

.

"Dino was your trainer before, wasn't he?" Yamamoto and Hibari were walking across one of the short, undecorated bridges tying together the streets of Tsuna's neighborhood. "You should go see him."  
"I'll go see him when I feel hungry for a kill or useless information about things that I don't care about." There were carps in the water below them. It was dark, but the street lights glittered on their scales when they broke the surface.  
"I think he's cool." Yamamoto folded his arms behind his neck.  
"Of course you do," Hibari rolled his eyes. "Just thinking of the two of you in the same room together makes my skin crawl." He actually shuddered.

Yamamoto smiled in the darkness and in one fluid motion he grabbed Hibari around the shoulder with one arm and pecked him on the cheek. The tonfa that shot up at his face missed his nose by a millimeter.

* * *

Yamamoto met Dino after lunch the following day in the school's sports field area. He had been with Hibari until past 2 the previous night and was feeling rather sleepy, but he was excited about being trained by Dino and grinned when he saw him.

Hibari's sleep-cycle was totally off and near inhuman, probably because he had more naps in one day than a toddler – Yamamoto wasn't sure if he even slept at night at all. Sometimes it was enough that he looked away for a few seconds, like to turn on or off the TV, and when he turned his head back again, Kyoya would have put his hands behind his head and was breathing softly and evenly.

.

.

"Hey, Yamamoto!" called Dino. He was alone and when he started to walk towards Yamamoto, he stumbled at least twice even though there was absolutely nothing there. "'You remember the first time we trained?"

"Oh, with that big thing that looked like a tanks?"

Dino gave a half-smile. "That _was_ a real... Anyway, Reborn has fixed it so that we can use it here again! Awesome, right? We'll be working on your reflexes –" his voice got lost in the rumble from the enormous armed vehicle that just then came rolling around the corner of the main building. "– and it's got some new features, too!"

.

Above them Hibari was perched on top of the water tower, chin resting in the palm of his hand, as he stared down at the sports field below. Dust and sand floated in the air above the field like a giant cloud, growing steadily as new explosions shook the ground. Reborn had asked him, kindly, for permission to let Dino use the school grounds for practice, and he had, kindly, said yes. And now he was here to watch… as they _wrecked_ the sports field of _his _school. He hadn't told Yamamoto he would come and he didn't think anyone had noticed his presence yet.

Suddenly, Yamamoto glanced up and spotted him. Shading his eyes with his hand he waved cheerfully – and then Dino looked up, too.

Hibari had a sense of deja vu.

"Hey, Kyoya!" called Dino.  
"Kyoya!" called Yamamoto. "Hey, won't you come down and train with us?"  
Both of them were grinning happily up at him. Hibari's eye twitched.

He shuddered and then, deciding he had changed his mind, he left.

.

Yamamoto didn't stop grinning even after Hibari's ominous black shape had vanished from the roof-top. And even though he had literally been dodging bullets – and bombs and mini-missiles – for over an hour, he moved suddenly a little faster, jumped a little higher and simply seemed put his entire spirit into his every movement.

_He looks really happy_, thought Dino. _He must really care about Kyoya..._

* * *

Afterwards, they stood in the sun, leaning against the stone wall that fenced in the school area, waiting for Romario to return from having put away the tanks.

Suddenly, Dino spoke. "Listen, Yamamoto," he began hesitantly, "about Kyoya... I can tell that you really care about him."  
Yamamoto, who sat in the grass by his feet leant his head further back, angling it so that he could look up at Dino. His cheerful visage was serious now, like it had been the night before. "...But Kyoya can hurt you."

Yamamoto wrinkled his brow. "What do you mean?"

"That guy is different, he doesn't attach to people the way others do." Seeing the look on Yamamoto's face, Dino continued before he could make a retort, "I know that's one of the things that draws you to him, he's just not like anyone else..."

Yamamoto narrowed his eyes, he looked almost angry now, "what are you trying to say, exactly?"

"Just -"  
Romario had returned. Dino gave Yamamoto's shoulder a pat and, before he turned to leave, he said, "just keep in mind that not all creatures can be tamed. Personal feelings aside and all," he added, "birds fly away when given the chance, Yamamoto."

_So just... don't expect too much from him, ok?_

Dino cast a long glance up at the school roof where they had last seen Hibari before he joined Romario. It had nothing to do with jealousy, really, but he had been 15 and in love, too, once. He didn't want Yamamoto to get burned too badly. Really.

.

.

After the two of them had left, Yamamoto sat with his back resting against the sun-warmed stone wall, alone, thinking. Birds, huh? He stared at his katana and the blue box… the swallow. Dino didn't know, because he hadn't come with them to the future, and Yamamoto hadn't used his ring at all during practice. Dino didn't know what his box animal was.

_I know the crap out of taming birds!_ He made his hand into a fist and punched the wall hard for no apparent reason.

The sun was setting and Yamamoto saw his shadow before the voice spoke. "If you soil school property with so much as a sweat mark you'll have to lick it off, Yamamoto Takeshi."

Yamamoto gave a half-hearted snort of laughter as Hibari slid down next to him. They sat like that, quietly, for a moment before they both turned their heads slightly to look at each other, smiling small secret smiles, neither of them said anything. In the grass their fingers touched and, just then, Yamamoto found he couldn't really remember that much of what Dino had said to him.

* * *

Reborn didn't tell anyone, not even Tsuna, about what he was doing.

He had tested Tsuna many times, obviously, and Gokudera, too. But this was a different kind of trial. And totally, completely unexpected because he had never imagined he would ever have to test these particular two…

He was worried.

.

.

He found him, as he knew he would, lying in the sun on top of the school roof.  
"Hibari."  
Hibari turned his head a fraction of an inch to the side to see who this undoubtedly brave but very unwanted visitor might be.  
_The baby?  
_He sat up, warily, eyeing the suit-clad infant with curiosity.  
"…there's something we must talk about."

.

.

And that was how Reborn's trial started...

.

.

**Space-de-waste**: Geez, I cut at least 1/3 of the original content from this chapter and it still ended up being more than 6000 words! The Dino-Yamamoto relation was only supposed to play a small part in this chapter, but ended up being the main focus of it instead...! The parts I cut included an actual sex-scene, more of Reborn and an intro by Hibari, all of which have now been moved up to chapter 4. Please review, it would make me very happy (^_^) I'm very serious when I say they make my day.


	4. Chapter 4

**Warnings**: boys' love! 8018… and guess what? For this chapter I actually _have_ spelled it _Kyouya_, so there!  
**Rating**: T or possibly M for this chapter (rated for_ the most romantic behavior so far _– seriously, you _have_ been warned – plus the usual pinches of violence and bad language – for good measure!)  
**Chapter summary**: Hibari tries to be nice and reluctantly embraces the unexpected joys of spending time with someone other than himself. Tsuna and Gokudera are very seriously considering having a talk with Yamamoto, but might just find that Reborn has beaten them to it. And what _is_ Reborn up to, anyway?  
**Disclaimers**: I don't own KHR (if I did I'd pester the publishers to translate the manga a lot faster – if it wasn't for , us poor Scandinavians wouldn't even be half-way through the Varia-arch yet!)

**Author's waste of space**: I wish I could say that this chapter is so delayed because I was busy with exams, which might lead you to believe that I am a diligent student. That's wrong on both counts, actually, because I wrote all three previous chapters _while_ I was studying for my exams (they went really well, by the way, we just got our results back!). No, my dear laptop (mayitrestinpeace) said goodnight & goodbye and, apparently, hardly any publicly available machines will run .docx-files, so there you go.  
I've been feeling extremely sorry for myself…

But, seriously, thank you so incredibly much for the reviews and everything! I've tried to focus more on the two main characters in this chapter – in the last one I felt there was hardly any Yamamoto and Hibari at all, while in this one I feel there's nothing but ;D

But, ah! I have finally figured out the deal with the names and the numbers in KHR! I just assumed it would be explained in the manga at some point, so I memorized the ones of my favorite characters and paid it no more heed, but now I know. It refers to the Japanese counting system and the syllables for each of the numbers. So with Gokudera, for instance, you take Go (which means 5) and Ku (which is 9) and voila: 59! But that's about as logical as it gets, though, because it seems totally random which part of the names are used and in the case of Tsuna (27), they've just made Tsu become Two, because that's what it sounds like when you say 'two' in Japanese, and Na is short for Nana, meaning 7. Also I refuse to believe that Mukuro ended up with 69 by coincidence… There's a YouTube clip that explains it all (just search for 'Reborn numbers' - pops right up).

Oh, and while I'm at it! Have you seen [8018] Crush? It's on YouTube (heh, again) when you search for 'Yamamoto Hibari'.  
God I love this pairing!

.

.

:+:+: Chapter 4 :+:+:

_Of Hibari's kindness, clouds and rain and the beginning of the end…_

_._

Approximately three days after their first kiss and roughly three weeks before he was approached by Reborn, Hibari had an idea.

It was brilliant because it allowed him to hunt down, pummel and utterly – and preferably publically – humiliate people who were bigger and weaker than him, all three of which incidentally happened to be among his top favorite pastimes. It was also, although that particular aspect of it was acknowledged as barely more than a vague tug in the depths of his subconscious, one of the precious few ways he could think of to express something that was less than hostility and more than indifference. It might even, possibly, pass for a gesture of kindness, which, frankly, was what he intended; although the big weaklings involved might not share his opinion on this.

* * *

"We should talk to him, don't you think?" Tsuna glanced over at Yamamoto. "I think we should talk to him."

They were in the chemistry lab. They were supposed to team up in twos or threes and figure out a way to add fragrance to an odorless muck so that it might, ideally, end up as a sort of hand lotion. Gokudera's looked just about ready to be bottled up and sold at the pharmacy, while his own lumpy gruel looked a bit like dog vomit.

"No way!" hissed Gokudera. He looked like a mad scientist with his hair pulled back and the huge goggles they were obliged to wear when they were inside the lab. "I mean – I'm always behind you, 10th, but _why_ would we do that?"

"He should know that… you know," Tsuna hesitated, "that we know."

They turned to look at Yamamoto in unison. He was in their group as well – and the stuff he'd concocted was almost as bad as Tsuna's – and was currently waiting in line with some other students to hand in their reports to the chemistry teacher. He gazed dreamily out the window while he waited and was humming the school anthem in an absentminded way.

"He really seems like he's got it bad, doesn't he," said Tsuna. He was unable to suppress a small smile – it was kind of sweet, really. Yamamoto was probably the best boyfriend in the entire world, he thought. He was considerate, handsome, sincere and, most of all, devoted… everything. And he was always thorough and seemed to really put his heart into doing things properly.

"…tch! Stupid baseball-moron," muttered Gokudera. "I still can't –"he interrupted himself mid-sentence, tugging at his haphazard ponytail, "how does…_that_ happen?"  
"Maybe Hibari has a side to him we haven't seen?" suggested Tsuna with a shrug, though he didn't really believe in it himself.  
"You mean besides selfish, sadistic and _evil_?" Gokudera shook his head. "…I don't even want to know what other sides he's got."

.

Their next period was P.E., Tsuna's absolute least favorite subject in the world. It had been that way for as long as he could remember, but lately it had gotten even worse – because now he had friends. Talented and well-meaning friends who passed him balls he had no hope of catching and teamed up with him on exercises he was not even remotely fit for. They didn't seem to get why he'd been nicknamed 'no-good Tsuna', as self-explanatory as it was. It had been easier when he could just hide in the back and be invisible and missed by no one…

"Hey 10th, wait up!"

Those days were gone.

Gokudera came jogging up beside him, interrupting his somber train of thought, and on his other side Yamamoto appeared. "Yo, Tsuna! What's the rush? 'You excited about soccer today?"

Tsuna gave a weak smile.

_Long gone…_

_._

While Tsuna mentally prepared for his impending doom – all thoughts of Yamamoto's improbable and disturbing love life momentarily pushed to the back of his mind to be pondered over later – Gokudera and Yamamoto was chattering and bantering loosely beside him, throwing amiable insults back and forth over his head. Yamamoto was complaining that after P.E. classes had been moved outside for the summer, the clubs, the baseball club included, were forced to spend time on fixing up the outdoors sports' field again each afternoon before they could start practice. "I guess it's good for building character and all," he said as they descended the staircase together with the others. "But it just feels like such a waste that we have to re-draw the lines every day. We really just want to start playing." Tsuna was only listening with half-an ear. They were nearly there now and a feeling of self-pity was growing in the pit of his gut like a hot-blooded ulcer. It was one of the first really hot days of summer, and the sports field, covered as it was in fine, beige sand would already be like a desert.

But when they arrived, there was someone already there. And they had brooms.

Tsuna stopped. So did the others. The P.E. teacher stood at the outskirts of the field, on the spot where he usually had them line up, looking confused and scratching his neck as he observed the odd little crowd that was currently occupying the sandy area where they were supposed to play soccer. There were five of them and, Tsuna squinted – they definitely looked… odd. Not to mention, really big. They didn't look like middle school students at all. In fact, they didn't even look like students.

_Where are their school uniforms?_

And there was something about their appearances and their current activity – which was sweeping – that, when put together, just didn't _fit_ somehow…

Also, one of them wore bandages around his right wrist and another had a bandage wrapped around his forehead and jaw, like a mummy, and all five had a lot of bruises and walked a little funny.

"Who the hell are these morons?" drawled Gokudera with a lazy scowl on his face.

_Excellent_,thought Tsuna, crossing his fingers in an unselfconscious way, _maybe this means they'll cancel soccer…_!

Around them the other boys were murmuring and looking at each other in puzzlement. This had never happened before. All of them, it seemed, were equally clueless.

All, except one…

"Ah!" Yamamoto's caramel colored eyes widened. "It's _you _guys!" He pointed at the rather unorthodox cleaning-crew. Everyone looked at him. The guy with the bandaged hand glanced up and when he spotted Yamamoto his eyes became narrow slits.  
"_You…_!" The word was a low, hateful hiss.  
The other four looked up as well. Only, they didn't look quite as murderous. In fact, 'nervous' might be a more appropriate description.

"Umh, do you know them?" asked Tsuna.  
Yamamoto looked serious and nodded. "Remember those guys I told you about who tried to take my jacket? When Hibari saved my butt?"  
He directed a pointed look towards the five in the sports field and nodded once. "That's them."

Tsuna blinked."What, really? They're high school students? But why are they here?" He surveyed them apprehensively. _Sure are big though. I guess Yamamoto was lucky Hibari was there._

"Bastards!" Gokudera's jaw clenched. "Want me to teach them a lesson, 10th?"  
"What – _no_!"

"Listen, I don't know who you boys are." It was their teacher. He finally seemed to have found his voice again. "Do you even… go here? But this field is reserved for P.E., so I'd appreciate it if you left right now."

The one with the injured hand glared angrily at them and thrust his broom out like a harpoon. "Then why don't you just talk to that homicidal maniac –"  
But before he could finish what would undoubtedly have turned out to be a long and colorful tirade, he was interrupted.

"Hey! Who said you could talk?!"

Instantly, a collective shudder ran through the group of boys – and the teacher, too – as if someone above had just emptied a bucket of ice-water over them. _Prefects_!  
There were two of them, prime examples of Hibari's brutish-looking cohorts, standing in the shadow where no one had seen them until the one of them spoke. They were leaning against the wall with their arms folded, looking like a couple of bouncers who had missed a few crucial points of their education and positioned themselves beside the entrance instead of in front.

One of them turned to their teacher and greeted him unceremoniously with a curt upward nod. "Hibari's orders," he said simply.

"Ah, yes, of course…" said the teacher apprehensively. "But, err, why?"

"Hibari doesn't like them," said the other prefect with something akin to reverence in his voice. Both of them nodded solemnly in unison at this.  
"Yeah, they annoyed Hibari. 'Shouldn't have done that…"

Tsuna and Gokudera glanced suspiciously up at Yamamoto at the same time. _Could it possibly be…?_

"Damn stupid thing to do, that, ganging up on Hibari… No discipline."  
"Yeah, 'troublemakers need some discipline. So we're having them sweep this place and draw up chalk lines for the sports clubs." Tsuna felt his jaw drop. _That's so obvious!_

And they both seemed perfectly content with this. This was all the reason they would ever need to do anything; because Hibari said so.

Had Hibari really dragged them all the way here just to…? Was he doing this for Yamamoto's sake?  
Truthfully, it was a teeny bit unsettling – it didn't take a scientist to figure out what Hibari had done to get them here, or why they all limped and had skin like color charts. Would this happen to anyone who was mean to Yamamoto from now on? Tsuna's eyes wandered slowly sideways to rest upon Gokudera – because if it did, then someone was in trouble.

"Hey, that's awesome!" Yamamoto, looking as oblivious as ever, was suddenly grinning happily again. "Now we won't have to do it. Do you remember," he turned to Tsuna and Gokudera, "I told you how I thought it was a waste of time?"

Next to him Gokudera was rolling his eyes. He, at least, seemed to have reached the same conclusion as Tsuna.  
"Yeah, gee, I can't _imagine_ who else you might have told…" he muttered under his breath. Tsuna elbowed him in the side. "What?"

"Oh, is that so…" their teacher sounded really nervous now. He knew he was out on thin ice and Tsuna felt a pang of sympathy for him. "But we're having P.E. –"

"Well, you're not having it here. 'Got a letter from the chairman himself here…" The prefect fished up a neatly folded piece of paper and held it up. "'You got any issues with that, teach', and you'll have to take it up with him, I'm afraid."

"Yes…" the teacher said slowly, "so am I. Ok, fine," he turned to his class, clapping his hands together loudly to get their attention. "We'll play soccer indoors. Come on, march!"

"Oh, come _on_!" Behind them, the angry guy with the bandaged arm threw his broom on the ground. Yamamoto chuckled and waved at them. The other four wore matching looks of disbelief on their faces, too, as they watched the assembled P.E. class turn and leave. "Aough egh!" the guy with the bandaged jaw threw down his broom as well. He, too, sounded upset; though it was kind of hard to tell. "Anh aoah 'itch!"  
"Does that psycho run this place, or what?!"  
"Yes," said the two prefects in unison, it sounded automatic. Several of the boys from their class nodded in agreement to this.

"And no _talking_! Get back to work, maggot!"

.

Yamamoto was still grinning as they walked toward the gym – the _indoor_ gym, thought Tsuna glumly, which would no doubt be like a sauna in this heat.

_Man, our prefects are the worst_.  
Even so, for Hibari to… he looked up at Yamamoto.

"Lucky me," chirped Yamamoto, "our prefects sure are nice, huh?"

_He doesn't get it, does he…?_

"And to think some people only get their sweethearts flowers," mumbled Gokudera sarcastically, still with a scowl on his face. Tsuna shoved an elbow in his side again and gave him a meaningful look. "_What?_"

* * *

But Yamamoto _did_ get it.

"Listen, I don't know how you pulled that off yesterday," he scratched his neck. "But thanks."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Hibari nonchalantly. "Go away."

It was almost noon and the day was as hot and sunny as the previous, though the horizon was dark and gray and bore promise of rain. It was revision day, so there hadn't been any classes and all the clubs that still had practice, ended early. Yamamoto was on his way home – back from practice, because the baseball club never rested – when he spotted Hibari, who gracefully allowed him to catch up and fall into pace with him. His handsome features contorted into a menacing glare at first as Yamamoto came shoulder to shoulder with him, but then he rolled his eyes and sighed in a resigned way and said nothing. No insults. No spontaneous outbursts of violence. If he hadn't known any better, Yamamoto might say that Hibari was warming up to him.

"It was you, though, right?" he pressed on.  
"Again you jump to conclusions," said Hibari without looking at him. "Don't flatter yourself, low-life. I'm simply… disciplining them."  
"Ah, of course," Yamamoto nodded. But he was smiling as he said it and, glancing sideways at Hibari, he saw that he was, too.

The remaining 10 minutes of their walk Yamamoto spent trying to convince Hibari as discreetly as he conceivably could – and failing epically at that – that coming inside with him would be a really good idea…

"So, err, did – do you want to come inside?" he asked. He meant for it to sound like a plain question, but the words didn't roll off his tongue quite as casually as he'd planned.  
"Not remotely." replied Hibari, very plainly.  
"I bet you haven't had lunch yet," Yamamoto went on, folding his hands behind his head.  
They were walking side by side at a leisurely pace – not really heading towards the restaurant, but, on the other hand, not really away from it either.  
"No."  
"Aren't you hungry?"  
"Are you dense? Get lost, Yamamoto Takeshi!"

He sounded irritated but Hibari's eyes had gotten that same glint of curiosity in them as Yamamoto had seen that time when he'd tried to talk to him in the hallway the day after they'd first kissed. He had the distinct impression that Hibari wasn't really refusing because he didn't want to, or that he did it to exaggerate upon the borders he'd drawn around his exceptionally wide personal space; but rather because he seemed so fascinated by the fact that Yamamoto was addressing him in the fashion that he was and inviting him the way he did that he was curious to see how far he could push it.

"There's no one else in the house." Hibari glared up at him and Yamamoto hoped he wasn't blushing too obviously. "So there'd be only –"he hesitated. "Err, there'd be no crowds," he promised quickly with a weak laughter.

In the end, Hibari allowed himself to be convinced…

.

.

Even before the door to Yamamoto's room was properly closed behind them they were clutching at each other's shirts and their lips met in a million little kisses that couldn't come fast or hard enough and soon left them both gasping for breath.

"This means nothing, plant eater," panted Hibari, eyes closed, as Yamamoto kissed his ear and the soft skin by his temples. He slid his hands around to the small of the other boy's back and down to stroke the back of his thigh. "Nothing at all," whispered Yamamoto, his voice thick. Hibari began to undo the buttons of his shirt and tugged at his collar to pull him closer.  
"Don't think this means anything, or I'll… bite…"  
"My mind is blank."

He hooked one hand under Hibari's knee and lifted him up – up from the floor and, with Hibari's pale arms around his neck, he carried him over to the bed. Their lay with their legs tangled together, kissing each other's lips and cheeks and necks with a desperate, near-frantic vigor as if their very lives depended on it – which, at this point, Yamamoto felt pretty sure it did. They had each other's hair tickling in their faces, hot breath brushed against the bare skin of their necks and shoulders, neither willing to give an inch. There was a momentary pause, almost tender, as their lips locked in that sort of endless kiss that only exists to people whose mouths are still new territory to one another.

Suddenly something began to vibrate in an attention-demanding manner in the pocket by his hip. Hibari, who must have felt it on the inside of his thigh, looked up at him with raised eyebrows.

"Wow, is that –"  
"It's my phone!" said Yamamoto quickly. "Someone's calling." With slightly unsteady hands he fished it up and, in a not so accidental way, let his fingertips brush Hibari's leg.  
"Yes, hi!" he said breathlessly.

"Hey, moron." It was Gokudera; who was easily identified by Gokudera's usual greeting. Whether he was angry, upset, excited or feeling uncharacteristically sunny, Gokudera always opened his conversations on the phone with 'hey moron' – always, at least, when he called Yamamoto, though never ever when he talked to Tsuna.

"I'm going over to Tsuna's – you wanna come hang out?"  
"I, err…" Yamamoto glanced down.

Currently he was on all fours on top of Hibari, with one knee between Hibari's legs and the other pressed against his hip. Both of their shirts were already half-way unbuttoned and hung off their shoulders, pillows lay carelessly scattered on the floor and under him Hibari's silky hair formed a black halo on the white mattress. Draped out on his bed like that, he looked like some exquisite china-doll on display. His pale cheeks were pink and Yamamoto expected he must look pretty flustered himself.

"You know what, I –"  
He began, and then Hibari looked up at him with narrow, dark eyes and shoved his knee none-too-gently up between his legs.

"I – _ow_! – I can't today." He mustered in between a painful groan.  
Apparently, someone was not used to being ignored…  
"What do you mean? There's gonna be rain today," said Gokudera, "so you know you can't play fetch, right, sports-freak?"

"Yeah, I'm – ah_ha_! – kind of in the _middleofsomethingbye_!"

Almost before he had even hung up, the phone flew from his hand and landed with an unceremonious 'thud' on the floor as Hibari yanked at his other arm, making him lose balance. The room spun as Hibari moved like a cat, sliding away sideways from under him, pushing at his shoulder and, before he knew what was happening, Yamamoto was on his back staring up into Kyouya's smoldering, triumphant eyes. His look of initial surprise faded quickly, to be replaced with a playful, almost feral grin – challenging; because this, he realized, was a game. Hibari arched into his hands as he slid them up his sides, to the small of his back, under his lose shirt, kneading the heated skin there and helping Hibari grind his hips down hard, _harder_ on his own. And he loved games. Hibari threw his head back and a faint moan escaped him, before he tangled his fingers into Yamamoto's hair and claimed his lips in a savage and almost painfully deep kiss.

The kiss didn't break. Even as Yamamoto undid the belt and his slacks, snaked his hands inside, down the front and touched the moist heat there, or when he grabbed his hips and practically forced Hibari into a roll, a tight embrace of skin against skin that left him straddling Hibari's waist, once more on top, Hibari held the kiss. His tongue was prodding and stroking against his own, as if he were tasting him, and he bit down on Yamamoto's already swollen lips, gently at first, then harder – carefully, then relentlessly, passionately.

He lay on his back with Yamamoto half on top of him, almost naked now, watching Yamamoto with serious eyes from under the long dark lashes. His breathing was soft and ragged, his flat stomach heaving lightly with each intake. His breath hitched when Yamamoto stroked a finger along the clearly defined line going from his navel up to the sharp curves of his rib-cage. He traced the fine collar bone with the palm of his hand, right side, left side, the perfect jaw all the way to the tip the chin and down along his neck, making Hibari shiver lightly under his touch. He had the purest, palest, smoothest, silkiest skin Yamamoto had ever dreamt of touching.

His hand slipped further down and came to rest at Hibari's hip; he pulled him closer, leaning over him to place gentle kisses on his chest. Hibari closed his eyes. He was shivering lightly all over now, and Yamamoto saw more than he felt his own hands shaking a little, too, without realizing why. Later, he would read somewhere that this was a very common thing.  
Hibari opened his eyes half-way; he looked so very beautiful, there in the fading, graying light that filtered in through the window. "What are you waiting for, herbivore…" he whispered softly.

It was suddenly very quiet. Only their soft, heavy breathing could be heard.

.

Afterwards there were red scratch marks on Yamamoto's back and on his arms, and when Hibari got up to leave, he had hissed sharply and fallen to the floor even before he had taken one step. He refused to admit that he couldn't walk – or sit – and had blatantly refused to get back up in the bed again after such a humiliating display. And so Yamamoto had climbed out as well and the two of them had lain on the floor, next to the bed, instead, and Hibari stayed.

* * *

Gokudera had been right. About two hours later it really did start to rain.

They sat beside each other in front of the terrace in Yamamoto's room, incidentally on the exact same spot where Hibari had slept that time, watching in content silence as great sheaves of soft, pale rain cascaded from the iron colored clouds above Namimori. Occasionally the wind blew light showers in their direction, in through the open door and made their clothes and faces moist and delightfully cool. On a small tray on the floor behind them were two unopened bottles of green tea.

"Your mother doesn't live here," said Hibari suddenly and looked directly at him.

"No, she doesn't. She doesn't really _live_… anywhere." Yamamoto spoke slowly; he looked out at the rain and took a deep breath. "She passed away. It happened 6 years ago," he added.

Hibari returned his gaze to the dark sky outside, nodding slowly as he did. He didn't say anything and for this Yamamoto was grateful, because he didn't want Hibari to see him weak and he was pretty sure he would look very weak indeed if they were to start discussing his late mother. He bit his bottom lip and glanced at Hibari – there was this one thing he was dying to ask him about, though, while they were at the subject…

"So," he began, "are your parents… both alive?"

Hibari's eyes narrowed and he looked suddenly like his dangerous self again – his _normal_ self, Yamamoto reminded himself.

"Err, what?"

"Why does everyone think I'm an orphan?" Hibari threw his arms out and handed Yamamoto a bottle of green tea from the tray, even though he hadn't asked for it. "My parents are alive."

"Ahaha, right, sorry. That sounds kind of rude, I guess," Yamamoto took it, grinning. "But, you know, you're always at school and, well, you're not exactly _well-behaved_, so I just assumed."

There was a pause while Hibari took a small sip of green tea, and Yamamoto thought that it was the first time he had ever seen Hibari _consume_ something, then, "the apartment is all mine, though."

Yamamoto took this to mean that Hibari didn't actually live together with his parents, not all the time at least, but, even as he wondered what sort of people Hibari's parents might be, he decided not to push the matter.

And so they returned to watching the rain in content silence until Hibari fell asleep on the floor, on the exact same spot as he had once before.  
Very carefully Yamamoto lay down beside him. He wanted to hold him so badly – touch him _more_, be even _closer_. But when he tried to put his arm around him, Hibari, in his half-sleep, had growled like a panther, "…don't push it."

So he hadn't, and they had fallen asleep with their backs pressed against each other.

.

.

The word 'relationship' never entered Hibari's mind at all, because his mind didn't work like that. If he were truthful to himself, he would admit that he didn't think Yamamoto Takeshi was half-bad. Not bad at all, actually. But, of course, he wouldn't _ever_ admit that he felt any sort of _attachment_ to the guy… Rather it was a rare, if not entirely unique, acceptance of another person's presence. Never mind that he had let it continue for nearly a month, now – a fleeting fact, which he conveniently chose to ignore. Normally he couldn't stand being around other people too much, but around Yamamoto Takeshi he felt oddly calm. He didn't get on his nerves the way other people did, not even when he made up ridiculous excuses to try and calm his temper. Like the time they had shown up, an entire _crowd_, to watch him fight and destroy that big, ugly robot over a stupid piece of junk ring; "Ah, we were just coincidentally walking by, see! Never mind us, Hibari!" _Right…_

He was not at all used to all the attention the other boy was giving him, though, and it was a novelty to have a fellow student actively attempt to _get_ attention from him.

.

The one who had made him aware of Yamamoto Takeshi in the first place was actually, ironically, really, none other than that filthy, miserable, humanoid worm otherwise known to the world as Rokudo Mukuro. He had told him about the ranking list….

"And you," he had said, smiling that charming smile of his, "came out on top!" he grabbed a handful of Hibari's hair and practically threw him to the floor. "You got me _really_ excited! Usually, my nr 1s are big guys with faces like bulldogs, but look at you. The guy under you seemed pretty fascinating as well," he said as he pushed up Hibari's shirt. Ignoring the hateful glare he was getting, Mukuro stroked a finger lazily up the middle of his stomach up to his chest.  
"Do you know who it was?" carefully selecting a spot with his index finger, he jabbed at it, hard, until the bone inside broke with a loud, sickening crack. "Yamamoto Takeshi. Tall, good-looking guy, fights with a sword, I believe."  
Hibari felt like he couldn't breathe, the pain was excruciating.  
"According to Ken, he's excellent," continued Mukuro in a tone of voice that was so casual and unfazed he might just as easily have been talking about the weather, pressing his palm down on the broken rib a little just to make Hibari gasp, before moving his finger down to the next bone on his ribcage. "I might do him too, you know, if Ken fails me and he gets as far as here…" Another rib snapped like a dry twig, and to Hibari it was like he had been hit in the chest by a bus.  
"Now scream for me, beautiful!"

Normally, the mere thought of this incident, as well as everything that put him in mind of it such as mirthful chuckling, pink flowers in general, six – the number – and forks, was enough to have him seething with ill-concealed irritation. But as he lay on his side on Yamamoto's floor with Yamamoto's warm back very nearly touching his own, he thought, for the first time, that at least one good thing might be said to have come of it.

_Ok, two things_, he corrected himself as his little bird fluttered down from where it had been perched on top of Yamamoto's desk light to land on the floor by his head.

.

.

The next morning Yamamoto, who was accustomed to sleeping on a mattress, woke up with a joint-popping back ache and the wonderful and unexpected surprise that Hibari was still there!

"How are you?" he whispered tentatively, reaching out a hand but not really daring to lay it down anywhere.  
"…the best you'll ever have," muttered Hibari flatly through gritted teeth, and Yamamoto figured he must still hurt too badly to move around properly.

Normally, Yamamoto, like pretty much everyone else, only washed himself in the evening. But today – well, he really needed a shower today. So he tip-toed gingerly down the stairs, silently praying that his old man wouldn't already be up and about to question his sudden change of daily routine.

His hair still damp, Yamamoto bent down over the unmoving form under the duvet in his room. "I'm heading out now, or I'll be late for class. Dad's already in the shop," he said softly, "so you can stay as long as you want and do anything you like without being interrupted."  
"…go away," groaned Hibari. He hadn't budged an inch since Yamamoto had left him.  
Yamamoto chuckled and quickly pecked him on the cheek, ducking out of the way from the fist which shot out at him from under the duvet like a ram.

.

.

No, he didn't get Yamamoto Takeshi, not remotely. But, for an herbivore, he was very fascinating…

Not that he was getting attached, mind you.

* * *

After his talk with Hibari, Reborn found Yamamoto in the school's sports field area gathering up his things after his third and final bout of training with Dino before the latter would return to Italy. The sun was setting and a mild, warm breeze blew dry leaves and scraps of paper between their feet. Yamamoto was looking very sweaty and very content.

"Yamamoto."  
"Hey kiddo! What's up?"  
"I have something I need to talk to you about."

Reborn took a deep breath. He really, really hoped things would work out as planned…

.

"Ah, so it got out, huh…" Yamamoto's face was a deep, crimson red, and he was scratching his neck. He wondered if it was Tsuna who had finally put two and two together and whether anybody else knew. "How, err – you didn't spy on me or anything did you, little guy?"

"It's not really important how I know," said Reborn. He really did sound serious, thought Yamamoto. "The important part is a much, much more difficult matter, I'm afraid, and it concerns the both of you very much."

"Hey, you're saying scary things, kid… what is it? Is it about Kyouya?" Yamamoto was instantly focused.

Rather than answer his question Reborn came with one of his own. "Do you know what the ring you're wearing means, Yamamoto?" he asked.

Yamamoto wrinkled in brow in bewilderment. _My ring…? What does that have to do with anything?_ Yamamoto kept the ring he had won from Squalo on a chain around his neck. He took it out from under his shirt and looked at it. "Err, it's a part of the… err, sky?" he suggested – he was never any good with pop-quizzes.

"Correct," said Reborn with a small nod. "And yours is the ring of Rain. _You're_ the rain, Yamamoto, that's why you have it…"

.

Most of the things Reborn talked about after that went right over his head. Only, he picked up on that it had to do with the mafia-game, which he knew, deep inside, wasn't really a game… And he also picked up on the serious undertone in Reborn's voice. This whole conversation clearly wasn't a game either…

.

"See, this is my point," he said finally. "The elements you represent also represent your personal relationship to the other elements of the sky. This is the way it should and _must _be." Yamamoto nodded slowly, although, frankly, he felt completely lost. _Elements of the sky?_

"Rain and Cloud don't belong together."

And there it was. Even though this statement carried no meaning at all – at least not without the proper context – and was delivered by a person with all the physical traits of an infant, Yamamoto felt it like a punch to the chest. He said nothing.

"Rain only weighs the cloud down; it's basic science, really. And if you want to change the future…" Reborn let that sentence hang in the air for a moment, just to allow for the message to properly sink in before he continued – because they had seen the future, they had _been_ there and they all knew what would happen if… if they didn't...

"The two of you are our strongest cards, Yamamoto, and I need you to think long and hard on how important it is for _you_ to become stronger and whether you really want to be a burden to Hibari."

.

.

When he and Hibari met a couple of hours later, the sky above was dark fading to a pale baby blue ribbon in the horizon.

They didn't really meet so much as Hibari somehow knowing that he'd gone inside the baseball club room. It was in the long low building just besides the sports field, between the boys' tennis club room and the boys' soccer club room; a small quadratic room with equipment lockers and posters of famous Japanese and American baseball players on the walls.

He looked up when Hibari entered, leaning against the doorframe with an unreadable expression on his pretty face. "Hey."  
"Hi… How did you know I was here?" He hadn't even turned the lights on.  
"I could smell your socks," drawled Hibari. Yamamoto grinned in spite of himself, but then he became serious once more, "listen, Kyouya…"

He stared at his hands, unsure of what to say next, but before he could continue Hibari had pushed his hands away and was climbing up on top of him, straddling his lap. "Shut up," he said. His eyes were very dark and very serious, and so close to his own that Yamamoto thought their lashes might touch if they both blinked at the same time.

And then they kissed, and Yamamoto felt at once that something had happened with Hibari, too.

.

This time it was different.

Yamamoto lost all sense of his usual gentleness; all that mattered to him now was Hibari, _release_. He pushed Hibari onto his back, pinned him to the floor with one arm pressing his shoulder down and practically ripped the front of his shirt open with the other. He didn't restrain himself at all; couldn't, even if had wanted to – he needed this.

When he dived for Hibari's exposed neck, it wasn't to kiss but to bite and suck and _mar _that exquisite whiteness. He felt Hibari's fingers dig into his shoulder blades and his thigh pressed up against Yamamoto's painfully hard groin.

Loosening the thin belt around Hibari's waist, he forced a hand down and around to grab a rounded buttock and squeeze, as hard as he could until there was a sharp intake of breath beneath him. Suddenly Hibari's hands were no longer at his shoulders, but below his stomach, lower, and he felt nimble fingers open up and slide down the front of his trousers, and then it was he who couldn't hold back a gasp.

Grabbing a fistful of Hibari's hair, Yamamoto yanked his head back and sideways to expose his neck, lips and teeth closing around that soft, sensitive spot just above the collar bone. He caught Hibari's wolfish grin out of the corner of his eye. _He loves this_, he thought.

They rolled around on the floor, resembling wild beasts more than anything else, if it weren't for the clothes that were being pulled and torn off and that their mouths occasionally locked onto each other. The world spun up-side-down as Hibari yanked his knee away sideways from underneath him with his own leg, pushing at his shoulder, forcing him around and onto his back. Their next kiss, with Hibari perched on top of his heaving chest, was deep and slow and suddenly gentle. They held it, for how long he didn't know, until Hibari, without warning, bit down hard on his bottom lip and their wrestling continued, more ferociously than ever now.

I_ love this…_ thought Yamamoto.

He lifted one pale, sculpted calf over his shoulder and held Hibari up against the wall, as he pounded into him without holding back. Hibari was gasping for air, his head thrown back, letting out sharp, high moans with each thrust, his fingers tightening their grip on Yamamoto's hair until he was sure it would all come off his scalp like grass. He felt light headed as he forced himself in deeper, pace quickening and he was no longer sure whether Hibari's cries came from pleasure or pain. He couldn't stop.  
Bright dots of light danced before him as Hibari's teeth were suddenly buried in his shoulder and he was coming, coming, _coming_ – !  
He was vaguely aware of a sticky warmness on his own chest and stomach when Hibari came, and when they slid gently, powerlessly to the floor in a tangle of limbs and bunched up garments, both were panting hard.

Hibari gazed, almost dreamily, at him through half lidded eyes, head leant back resting against the wall, smiling, "wow…!"

.

.

It would be 3 days until they saw each other again, but at the time neither of them knew that.

And that was when his ring stopped working…

.

.

.

**Me again**: ok, next chapter will be the last one. And no, it's still not angst, and the reality of the 'test' is revealed. It's almost finished, because it was easier to write than this one, so I already wrote most of it while thinking out how to properly do this one, he-he (^_^)  
So, err, yeah – hopeyoulikedit and pleasereview *bows*


	5. Chapter 5

**Warnings**: boys' love! 8018  
**Rating**: T (rated for love, language and rough treatment!)  
**Chapter summary**: the story ends.  
**Disclaimers**: I don't own KHR (if I did Hibari would be more in it… especially in the manga, ah!)

**Author's waste of space**: Wow, I just visited this someone's profile on DA, and it was stuffed with stamps and icons telling the world how much she hated yaoi and how non-canon pairings, especially the yaoi ones, had ruined shows for her (her artwork was pretty neat though)…! That sucks but, aren't all fanworks of _that_ nature usually clearly marked? I mean, sure, I agree that a lot of non-canon pairings are stupid if the author doesn't explain how or why it might work – but fandoms tend to have their own rules, and either way I think it's interesting to see how other fans perceive the story and the characters in it. Actually I think it's probably the biggest compliment you can give an artist/author if you like their work so much that you'd spend your free time thinking out entirely new scenarios for their characters, analyzing them and filling in the blanks of the original story.

Anyway, just so I don't ruin the series for anyone here… I can see – and by 'see' I mean it's possible to interpret by watching and/or reading KHR – Hibari with Yamamoto; really, not just making it up because they're my favorite characters or because they're both über hot. It first crossed my mind in the Varia-arch when Yamamoto catches his tonfa and his is the only fight Hibari shows up for (heart), but there are other things as well – I won't elaborate on this, but I'm itching to write a list of things that link these two together.

.

.

:+:+: Chapter 5 :+:+:

_Of how they found Yamamoto again and the test ended__…_

_._

Yamamoto did not show up for class the next day; he wasn't there for the math test, nor did he come to P.E., which was his favorite subject. He didn't reply to Tsuna's messages, and when Gokudera tried to call him, no one picked up. When the baseball guys came by their homeroom after classes ended, they didn't know where he was either and eventually had to leave for practice without their star player with them.  
They tried calling him again. And again and again, but Yamamoto didn't answer.

"'The hell…?" Gokudera slammed his cell phone shut with a loud snap. "Where _is_ he?!"  
Tsuna wrinkled his brow and shrugged. Then he glanced around quickly to ensure that they were out of hearing range from anyone else before he whispered, "have you – you know, seen… Hibari today?"  
Gokudera shrugged in an exaggerated careless fashion. "…tch! Like I'd know where that ass-wipe is." But then he saw the expression on Tsuna's face and he sighed and muttered quickly, "but yes I happened to see him this morning."

_So they're not on some secret date, then, at least_, thought Tsuna – feeling a little relieved, because just the thought was enough to make him blush like a ripe tomato, and a little worried, because that had been the most plausible reason he could think of for Yamamoto to skip school, baseball practice and at the same time not answer his phone calls.

"Maybe he's caught a cold and lost his voice?" suggested Gokudera.  
"Hmm, yeah, maybe…" Tsuna wrinkled his brow. "Hey, umh, let's stop by his house later," he said and bit his lip. "I don't know. Something doesn't feel right."

* * *

There was no flame.

Yamamoto screwed his eyes shut and concentrated, _focused_! He tried to picture it in his head; azure blue and alive, like swimming pool water, gushing out from his ring. How many times hadn't he done this? And now… _concentrate_, damn it!

But nothing happened. There was no flame.

He sat cross-legged in a grassy clearing he'd come across in the outskirts of the forest. He felt very tired. He hadn't been able to sleep at all that night and the skin around his eyes was dark and purple. Why wouldn't it work, why wouldn't… the damn ring… work? With a frustrated groan he slumped forward with his head in his hands. Was this what Reborn had been talking about, what he had meant – it had to be, right?

Rain and Cloud don't belong together. That's what he'd said. Was this the price he had to pay because his and Hibari's… _elements_ or whatever, didn't match? It sounded so stupid! So… fucking… pointless…

He stared at his hand and at the pretty, ornate and, sadly, perfectly ordinary-looking ring there on his finger. And yet, so fucking probable – because the flame that was supposed to come, easily as nothing, really wasn't there.

So, then… was this it? He wasn't _worthy_ of the ring or something anymore now? Would he be forced to watch, helpless from the sidelines like a spectator at a game, as Tsuna and the others progressed and became more and more powerful? He wondered if Hibari's ring still worked. It probably did. Hibari was the strongest person he knew of and no conceivable force in the universe could hold him down, Yamamoto was sure.

Except one, maybe, if Reborn was right about the things he'd said – namely him. He would a burden, he realized, a burden to all of them.

No. He wasn't going to be the one dragging Hibari down – or Tsuna or Gokudera or anyone else! He clenched his hands into hard fists. He would find a way to get stronger.  
He would just have to train more, train harder – and no one could train like he could. He got nimbly to his feet and started on the way home with his hands in his pockets.

But he couldn't stay, not in Namimori. The mere thought of seeing Hibari without being able to touch him – of being around him without being near him – made his insides churn and ache like a fresh bruise. He thought of going home alone by himself after baseball practice each night – had he really done that for years and years before? – Because it seemed impossible, _unbearable_ to him now. And what if someone else fell in love with Hibari, and he had to be there and watch it happen?

He thought about his small almost-smiles, the sound of his voice, the smell of his hair and his skin, the taste of his mouth… no, he couldn't stay.

* * *

When Tsuna and Gokudera stopped by the restaurant after school, he wasn't there either and even Yamamoto's father didn't know where he was. According to him, Yamamoto had left the house in the morning, just like he did every day, and then he had just… not come back. He didn't look worried while they were there, but he seemed confused when he realized his son hadn't shown up for baseball practice.

"Hmm, well, it's true Takeshi's been acting a little strange, lately," he admitted. They stood by the entrance to the Takesushi, on a square of yellow created on the pavement by the light streaming out from the restaurant. He scratched his chin. "You don't think he'd be in some sort of trouble, do you? I just figured he'd got a girlfriend or something."

"I can see why you might think that." Gokudera stared at his own shoes and nodded solemnly. Tsuna coughed into his fist.

Yamamoto's father laughed in his normal jovial fashion, apparently mistaking their red cheeks for some sort of adolescent embarrassment. "It's now the girls are starting to become interesting, right?" he nudged Gokudera amiably with his elbow and winked at them. "Right?" Then he became serious again. "So, err… does he? You know, have a sweetheart?"

"_Sweet_ –"Gokudera began, looking like he might have a _lot_ to say on this particular matter, but immediately received another nudge in his side, from Tsuna this time. "What?"

"Umh, there's no simple answer to that Mr. Yamamoto," said Tsuna, doing his best to sound polite and, above all, neutral. He gave a nervous laugh. "You know how it is, right? Anyway, we should leave. But please, tell Yamamoto to call one of us, or both of us, when he comes back!"

And Yamamoto's father promised them that he would.

And Tsuna waited and waited, until it was past midnight and he fell asleep with his cell phone clutched in hand.

And no one called.

.

.

The next day it was pretty much the same. Yamamoto was nowhere to be found. When Tsuna asked the baseball guys, no one had any answers for him. He really had missed out on practice the previous night, and then he hadn't shown up for morning practice either.

And they saw Hibari – a lot. It seemed like he had taken on all of the patrol rounds by himself and he stalked the school corridors relentlessly, restlessly, from morning all the way through lunch break. Only he didn't really act like he was patrolling at all, because he didn't even seem to notice that students around him were making noise, crowding, violating the dress-code or engaging in other displeasing activities such as breathing out of sync. Or, if he did notice, he didn't say anything about it; he just looked at them, briefly, before he continued walking. He had a curious look on his face and though he seemed annoyed, increasingly so as the hours passed, it was in a different way from usual. More impatiently, as if he were waiting for something that didn't happen or looking for something that wasn't there.

Tsuna thought he had a fairly good idea of what that something might be…

.

"Umh, Hibari?"

Tsuna fought back a flinch as Hibari stopped and looked at him, he really looked distracted. It was almost as if he didn't even register that there was someone in front of him at all. "Are you – is everything alright?"

"I seem to have…" a slight pause, "_misplaced_ something and now… I can't… find… it." He spoke slowly and his eyes kept wandering restlessly back and forth down the hallway. _So he really is searching for something then, or _someone_, more likely_. He looks almost forlorn, thought Tsuna.

"Can I help?" he offered.

"That, I highly doubt," drawled Hibari. He looked like he was about to say more, when suddenly his cell phone rang. The familiar song only got to: "Miiiido –"before Hibari had it up and, almost breathlessly, "Yeah?" Then his eyes narrowed, "haven't I told you not to call me about useless details? …no, just do it!" And then he hung up, looking very irritated.

"This is a waste of time," he muttered, mostly to himself. He glanced at Tsuna and started to walk away. "Excuse me…"

.

.

He very nearly passed out in the end, of course. When he did, three days and some hours had passed since Tsuna had last seen Yamamoto and – though Tsuna didn't know it, of course – three days and slightly less hours since Hibari had. Hibari hadn't slept at all since then. Once he realized that Yamamoto really wasn't there, he hadn't been able to eat anything either. That equaled roughly 72 hours with no sleep, no rest and no food.

So, when he sauntered past them in the hallway by the end of that third day, swaying on wobbly legs on his way to the Disciplinary Committee's office, presumably to rest up, Tsuna wasn't really surprised. What surprised him was Gokudera's comment, which was delivered in a tone of voice that revealed he was clearly a little impressed. "That idiot just never gives up, does he?"

* * *

Hibari was feeling sick; sick to his stomach. If he had been weaker, a weaker person, he reckoned he might have thrown up – he wondered if his skin looked green – but he wasn't so he didn't. Not him. He had a Purpose; and no one could chase a purpose like him. He drew the sliding door to the Disciplinary Committee's office aside and, still feeling rather queasy, prepared to continue his search. But right outside stood Gokudera Hayato, arms folded across his chest glaring up at him in a determined fashion. If he had taken just one step they would've collided. "You look awful," he greeted flatly.

Hibari looked at him with vague curiosity and mild annoyance before stroking past him as if he wasn't there.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Gokudera called after him, "I'm talking to you here!"  
He heard footsteps behind him as Gokudera ran to catch up. Hibari thought that of all the herbivores that lived to kiss Sawada Tsunayoshi's skinny behind, Gokudera Hayato might just be the one he hated the most…

"Listen –!" a hand grabbed the shirt of his upper arm and, instinctively, Hibari spun around to punch the invader of his personal space in the stomach – but Gokudera had both his palms up and something about the look on his face, made Hibari stop.

"I am in a bad mood," he said instead, it was a fair warning, lowering his tonfas and turning around to leave.

"Man! You are the most intolerable, stuck-up, selfish son of a –" Gokudera took a deep breath to calm himself. "I know that you…" he paused, "_care_ about that baseball-idiot."

Hibari stopped.

"And I – well, _I_ don't _care_ about him, per se… But the 10th does and – and I want to find him, too, ok?"

When Hibari turned his head, he could see that Gokudera was all red in the face and he smirked. "Your voice hurts my brain," he said – but he meant it as a thank you, really.

.

.

The classroom was empty when they got there. Hibari wished it was dark outside and that he was alone with Yamamoto instead of this noisy, irritating waste of human flesh…

"So, when did you last see him?" asked Gokudera. He had slumped down in Yamamoto's seat – in _his_ chair. Hibari's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. "Last time _we_ saw him," Gokudera went on without pausing, "was when he went to train with Dino, and then he didn't come by Tsuna's for dinner and Dino said he hadn't seen him either. That was three days ago."

Hibari blushed a little – then he was the last person who had seen Yamamoto, when they had… He looked away but Gokudera must have seen the look on his face because he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Suddenly he threw his arms out. "_How_?! You and him," he demanded, "how does that happen?"

Hibari rolled his eyes and scowled – this person was so unpredictable, it was _really_ getting on his nerves.

"And _you_ – of all people! That noisy, ignorant sports freak – he annoys _me_ to the black depths of hell, so how could _you_ –"He tugged at his hair. "…How long have you been together?"

Hibari glared defiantly up at him. He wanted to kick his ass so badly…!

_Four__ weeks_, he realized with some surprise."I don't know what you're blabbering about, thumb-sucker," _or how you know_, "but your rambling is getting on my nerves. Is it ok if I smash your face?" He took some satisfaction from the murderous expression that passed over the other's features.

"Why you little –" Gokudera began in a low, dangerous growl, clenching his fists. But he didn't get any further, because Tsuna chose that moment to barge in, looking flustered and winded. "There you are!"

Gokudera and Hibari whipped their heads around to look at him as he stood panting in the doorway and Gokudera instantly jumped to his feet. "10th!" His facial expression softened at once and he lit up like a puppy. Hibari squinted up at him with an expression of vague disbelief. His lip curled in contempt and he didn't greet Tsuna.

"And – ah! – Hibari, too!" Tsuna blushed vehemently for no obvious reason. "Umh, did you find out anything?"  
Gokudera glanced quickly down at Hibari, and then shook his head. "No, he doesn't know either."

Tsuna's shoulders seemed to sink a little. He ran a small, pale hand through his unruly hair and looked very disappointed. Suddenly his phone rang and he took it purely on instinct, because his mind was currently too pre-occupied with trying to work its way around the horrible fact that Yamamoto was actually missing. – the kind of 'missing' where you had to report it to the police – to pay much attention to anything else.

"Hi, it's Tsuna," he answered automatically.  
"Hey, little bro'!" It was Dino – and there was something weird, something unfamiliar, about his voice and Tsuna could tell right away that something was wrong.  
"Dino!"  
"Listen, Tsuna, I just, err, talked to someone." Dino hesitated, seemingly unsure of how to phrase himself. "Do you know… where Yamamoto is, right now?"  
Tsuna felt it like an electric jolt. "Yamamoto?" His attention was instantly focused. At the mention of the name, both Hibari and Gokudera immediately turned their attention toward him.

"We, I – no!" stuttered Tsuna. "No. Do you know where he is?" He was unable to keep the note of hope out of his voice. Not for a moment did it cross his mind that the fact that Dino, of all people, might know where Yamamoto was didn't exactly bode very well.

"I might," said Dino slowly. Why was he speaking so slowly? "I _think_ Yamamoto might be on his way, err… here."  
Tsuna was quiet for moment. _Here_? Hibari and Gokudera watched him intently – it was a little frightening, actually. "Umh, what do you mean? Where 'here'?"  
"I mean… Italy, here," said Dino.  
"Italy?! Yamamoto's on his way to Italy?!"  
In front of him Hibari arched a delicate eyebrow, and Gokudera's jaw dropped. '_Italy?!'_ he mouthed soundlessly.

Tsuna turned half away from them, the better to concentrate. "Dino, are you sure? The truth is Yamamoto has been missing for a couple of days now, but," he pulled his free hand distractedly through his hair. "But why would he leave the country? I mean – you said you hadn't seen him since you trained with him."

"I haven't," said Dino. His voice was serious now. "Tsuna, I spoke to Squalo. It seems Yamamoto has contacted him and wants Squalo to be his tutor. Here," he said again. "In Italy."  
"He_ what_?!" Tsuna felt like the ground was disappearing from under him. He felt light headed. _This isn't happening... Yamamoto, what's gotten into you?_

Gokudera was poking insistently at his shoulder. "What?" he whispered. "10th, what's he saying?"  
"Yamamoto wants to train with Squalo," said Tsuna quickly, breathlessly.

"Apparently, he's told Squalo he needed to become stronger," said Dino. "Do you," there was a brief pause, "or anyone _else_ you know, know what this is all about?"  
"No…" Tsuna's mind was racing. Why would Yamamoto want to train with Squalo? Or, more importantly, why would he leave without telling anyone? Not even his… his eyes darted to Hibari, and he felt unable to finish the thought. None of the traditional terms really fitted Hibari, anyway.

"I don't know, Dino," he said and took a deep breath to steady himself. "But we've got to find him! We're… we're definitely bringing Yamamoto back!" His voice sounded suddenly loud in his own ears and was laden with a resolve he had no means of backing up – he didn't even know whether his friend was still in Japan. "And if I have to drag Squalo to Japan by myself, then so be it!"

"Good luck with that," said Dino cheerfully. "But, err, call me, ok?" he added. "I'm kind of worried, too."

He hung up.

And then Gokudera exploded. "You!" he pointed an accusing finger at Hibari, who glared defiantly back at him. "This is all your fault, asshole! What did you do to him?"  
"Shut up," hissed Hibari in a deathly quiet voice. His expression was stony, but his dark eyes burned. He looked very dangerous.  
"Stop it, both of you!" Tsuna threw his arms out. "We have to stop him! We can't let Yamamoto go to Italy!" He looked from Gokudera to Hibari, who were staring daggers and hellfire at each other, and said in a softer voice, "…Right?"

* * *

While this conversation took place in an empty classroom in Namimori, Yamamoto sat by himself in a near-empty train compartment that was speeding away towards Tokyo and the airport. He sat with his elbows resting on his knees and stared out at the landscape rushing by in a blur outside, and the familiar sight of his hometown disappearing behind him.

_Bye Namimori. __Bye pop_, he called out soundlessly. _I'll call you when I get there, I promise. I'm doing this for you, you know. For the both of you…_ He thought of Kyouya and looked down on his hands.

It was the only plan he could think of – it was a stupid and impossible plan, he'd be the first to admit, but it was the only thing that made sense. If he wanted the ring of Rain to accept him again, who better to train him than the other person who had been considered to carry it?

Yamamoto only had a vague idea of where to go and, wherever it was, he expected he would probably spend most of the money he had to buy the airplane ticket to go there... He grinned in spite of himself and decided, with a small nod, that yes, this might just be his dumbest idea yet. _But hey, no guts, no glory, right…?_

And, maybe, some day in the future, if the flame came back – no, he corrected, _when _he got it back – he would return here. He would come back and he would be so strong that the elements of the sky could go fuck themselves for all they affected him!

* * *

There was a car. They had found a car. It wasn't theirs and they didn't have the keys for it, but Gokudera had a hairpin and he admitted reluctantly, scratching his neck as he did, that not having keys didn't necessarily need be a hindrance to them. At this Hibari glanced at him sideways with a look of quiet approval.

"But neither of us have a driver's license," Tsuna pointed out. He did this rather nervously because, even as the words fluttered hesitantly off his tongue, he just _knew_ that one of them would contradict him. And, somewhere in the future, whatever they were about to do would somehow end up as his fault and his responsibility – curtsey of Reborn, no doubt.

"Shouldn't we just take the train instead? Listen, it's only an hour until the next one leaves and –"

"I know how to drive."

And there it was. _Of course_… Tsuna heaved a mental sigh. Of all the people to get stuck with, he thought. He was willing to bet that neither Ryôhei nor Yamamoto knew how to hijack a car. _Oh man, we're really gonna steal a car! _Then he shrugged. _Well_, _at least it's for a good cause. And it's an emergency_.

"…tch! Like hell you do!" Gokudera folded his arms across his chest. But the look with which he surveyed the calmly confident prefect was expectant, as if he only insulted him to sort of have it _said_ and not because he actually didn't believe him. He actually looked more excited than angry.

"Bronco taught me," Hibari explained simply, but there was a small quirk at the corner of his lips that told Tsuna Dino might not have exactly _taught_ him anything.

.

.

.

The two best things that could be said about Hibari's driving skills was that he got them from A to B _fast_ and that all three of them were _alive_ upon arrival. More or less – Tsuna felt weak in the knees and green in the face when he all but dribbled out of the car. Gokudera, on the other hand, was practically beaming, like a kid who had just come off a very fun rollercoaster and wanted to go again.

Hibari hadn't exactly lied to them though, because he _did_ know how to operate the vehicle itself pretty well. Only, he had no concept of such things as traffic signs, traffic in general – which, apparently, counted as crowding in his book – or speed limits.

All in all it was a relief to see the airport…

.

Tsuna wasn't sure what he was expecting would happen once they got there. Hibari was hardly one for tearful embraces – or for just tears, or just embraces. He had also learned from experience never to _assume_ when it came to that guy because Hibari had a spectacular talent for pulling off the unexpected; such as somehow _not_ being knocked out even _after_ he'd been knocked unconscious, or, somehow, falling for Yamamoto Takeshi, who attracted crowds like a squeaky-toy in a dog pound…

He was not disappointed.

Completely disregarding the security guards, the air port personnel and the travelers Hibari strode through the security check-points as if he owned the place – much like how he always strode – leaving behind in his wake a cacophony of small, high-pitched alarms and beeping and angry or surprised voices.  
"Excuse me, sir –!"  
"Hey! Where do you think you're – ?!"  
"Young man, you can't just cut in line!"  
"…is that a _bird_?"

But Hibari paid them no heed. He only had eyes for the clump of unruly black hair that stuck up like a sky scraper above a crowd of short, balding business men in gray suits. Several people further up the line had turned to see what the ruckus was all about. And then Yamamoto turned, too. He saw Tsuna and Gokudera first and his expression changed from vague curiosity to perfect surprise in a heart beat and he opened his mouth, perhaps out of astonishment or maybe because he was about to call out to them, Tsuna never found out, because then Yamamoto spotted Hibari. His expression changed again, only a little this time, but Tsuna could tell that just then, at that moment, the sky could have been collapsing in pieces around them without Yamamoto noticing – his eyes saw nothing except the dark-eyed, infuriated prefect who was advancing towards him, unstoppable like a train.

Somewhere behind them, a trio of security guards came running, but the passengers were in their way and their progress wasn't fast.

Gokudera and he stood too far away to hear, and there was too much noise around them, but Tsuna could see Yamamoto's lips move, saw them form 'Kyouya'. Hibari had reached him now. He was staring up at him, saying something. He looks much calmer now, thought Tsuna, than he had done in the car. Then Yamamoto looked down, and Tsuna had time to think _oh, now I'm assuming things again_ before Hibari punched Yamamoto so hard in the stomach that he doubled over and sank to his knees clutching at his front with Hibari standing over him like an angel of vengeance.

He picked Yamamoto up in his arms with no apparent effort and carried him like a baby back the way they'd come. For some reason the crowd wasn't quite so dense anymore…

"That son of a bitch…" Gokudera stood with his mouth open, staring in disbelief at the scene that unfolded before them. "10th, are you watching this?"

The security guards reached the 'loving couple' just as they came back out through the first check-point. Tsuna and Gokudera looked at each other, nodded, and dashed towards them – Tsuna's mind was racing, trying desperately to conjure up some explanation, any explanation at all, that might get his two guardians out of the heaps of trouble they undoubtedly were in. He hoped very much that Gokudera was doing the same thing, because Tsuna's mind was blank as a window pane, and also because in the case that Gokudera wasn't thinking up plausible excuses the chances were alarmingly high that he was instead planning some elaborate distraction involving dynamite.

Ahead of them the guards were saying something to Hibari who nodded and dumped Yamamoto unceremoniously down on the hard marble floor. The third guard helped him up on his feet and then the five of them walked towards an entrance marked 'no entry – airport personnel only'. Hibari's little bird was fluttering in the air behind them, twittering. "Hibari. Hibari."

.

.

"So, what do you figure is the worst thing that could happen to them in there?" Tsuna was casting nervous looks at the no-entry door. It had been 15 minutes – at least!  
They hadn't made it in time, they hadn't convinced anyone that they needed to get in, they hadn't managed to pry the door open themselves and, so far, no one had come out from it.  
He and Gokudera had found a baggage trolley which they had placed directly in front of it, about 10 feet away, and which now served as their make-shift stake-out point.

"Don't worry, 10th," said Gokudera gravely. "If it comes to violence I swear to –"  
"No!" Tsuna interrupted him, waving his hands frantically back and forth. "No violence! You can't blow up things at an airport!"

Gokudera's hands, which had been about to reach inside his open shirt, instantly withdrew and presented themselves to Tsuna, empty palms up. "Fine, fine, I'm just saying that _if_…" his voice trailed off as the door finally, slowly creaked open. A man stepped out. There was no one with him.

As one, Tsuna and Gokudera jumped to their feet.  
"Hey! You there," Gokudera called out rather rudely. Tsuna had a bit more tact. "Excuse me, umh, sir…"  
The guard looked up at them, puzzled; he scratched his thin hair and grunted. "Whut?"

"Was there two guys in there with you?" asked Tsuna, "About our age? One is tall and has –"

The man's eyes widened slightly. "Are you two… _acquaintances_ of Mr. Hibari?" He began to rub his neck nervously and Tsuna felt something heavy sink down inside him to settle in the pit of his stomach. _Mr. Hibari? Oh man, I wonder what he's done this time…! _

"If you're looking for Mr. Hibari and his friend," the man went on, "they were escorted out through the personnel-entrance. So sorry for the trouble," he quickly added, "but we have a job to do, you know. It's… They should be outside." He finished weakly and pointed towards the entrance and the parking lot that could be seen through the vast expanse of glass that made up the entire south end of the terminal building.  
"So they're not being arrested?" asked Gokudera with uncertainty in his voice.  
The man gave a short nervous laughter. "Arrested? Hah, right…" Then he shook his head and, still rubbing furiously at his neck, he tottered off.

Tsuna looked up at Gokudera, who shrugged.

.

They ran for the glass doors but slowed when they spotted Yamamoto and Hibari tightly locked in embrace sitting on the bench in the sun just outside. They had their arms around each others' waists and shoulders, their faces buried deep in each others' necks. Hibari's pale fingers were clutching the back of Yamamoto's shirt so hard that the fabric formed a big, upraised star under his hand and Yamamoto was stroking his hair gently.

As they approached the bench gingerly, carefully, not wanting to interrupt the two of them, Tsuna could hear Hibari's voice. It was uncharacteristically soft and almost tender.

"I'm not forgiving you for this, ever."  
And Yamamoto's reply, which was a mere whisper, "I know."

Neither of the two on the bench looked up as Gokudera coughed semi-discreetly, and, when he did it again, a little less discreetly, neither showed any sign of having noticed the presence of anyone else at all. It was as if there was no world outside of that embrace.

Suddenly Yamamoto looked up and he spotted them standing there only a few feet – a respectful distance – away.

"Ah!" He grinned hesitantly. "Err, hi guys."

Hibari looked up as well and contemplated them sideways over his shoulder. He said nothing.

"Hi, Yamamoto," said Tsuna, knowing full well that his own voice sounded just as hesitant. He paused, searching for the right words. "I'm glad you decided to stay with us," he said finally.

Gokudera did not search for the right words. In fact there seemed to be no searching going on at all. "You – fucking – _moron_!" he yelled, clenching his fists, "'the freaking _hell_ were you thinking?!"  
Yamamoto averted his eyes. "I wasn't… I guess," he said quietly.  
"Damn right you weren't!" Gokudera went on, "I thought you'd – That you were – _ah_!" his balled fist punched the air angrily. "You're hereby disqualified of ever becoming the 10ths right hand man – ever!"

_He really cares about Yamamoto, too_, thought Tsuna affectionately. But then he noticed the dangerous glint in Hibari's eyes and, very carefully, he put a restraining palm on Gokudera's chest, which heaved with suppressed emotion.

"At least now you know that we know," he said quickly, before Gokudera could continue his tirade. He felt – and probably looked – relieved at the thought. "So now we don't have to tip-toe around each other anymore."

"What are you blabbering about?" Hibari's face was calm and mildly puzzled, Yamamoto's was very red. On Yamamoto's thigh their fingers were still intertwined.

"Umh that, err…" Tsuna blushed vehemently all the way up to his hair roots. "That you two are, you know, that, umh…" He looked to Gokudera, who looked a little hot in the cheek himself and was coughing discreetly into his fist and not helping at all.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Hibari with a sweet little half-smile. Yamamoto grinned and scratched his neck. He didn't say anything either. "I only came here to fulfill my prefect duties." Hibari slid his free hand into the smallest pocket of Yamamoto's bag and fished out the little leather bound book that had Namimori middle school's code of conduct written inside, as well as the complete lyrics for the school anthem. It was given out to all students and then carefully ignored and forgotten until the end of their third and final year when they had to hand it back – though Tsuna would not have been surprised if someone had told him Hibari kept his in a shrine or under his pillow and read it every night before going to sleep.

"This," he said and held it up, "is school property and you, Yamamoto Takeshi," he put the book back, looking very smug as he did, "have ditched classes for 3 days in a row without a valid reason written up and signed by your parent or legal guardian."

"Err?" Now it was Yamamoto who looked dumbfounded.

_Of course…_ Tsuna mentally rolled his eyes.

* * *

They didn't go home together in the end though. What happened was that Yamamoto and Hibari went to explore Tokyo on their own with their eyes glued to each other and their elbows touching with each step they took; and left a scowling Gokudera and a blushing Tsuna behind, staring after them. For a while neither of them could think of anything to say.

Over the airport the sky was turning red and yellow as the sun began to set, outlining the coming and going planes in sharp, black silhouettes. They looked like toy planes.

That was when Reborn showed up. Out of nowhere, like a magic trick – but at least he didn't come floating down on a green, sparkling Frisbee or come strutting out from some obscure secret hiding place. Suddenly he was just there, standing on the tiled pavement between them.  
"Hmm, it looks like my test ends here."

.

.

"A test?!" Tsuna couldn't believe his own ears. He stared at Reborn. "'You mean we nearly lost Yamamoto because of one of your tests?!"

Reborn nodded once, looking very serious as he did.

"The Vongola rings are special, Tsuna. And the ones who carry them must be worthy of them. The test is simple and unforgiving," he said, "and it is necessary."

Tsuna thought of the various tests he himself had been put through by the baby. Like the time he made him believe he had killed a man in his sleep, or set him up against Hibari Kyouya armed with a slipper, or when he had put a man eating dolphin in the public pool. Ah yes, Reborn's tests…

"After ten generations of Vongola bosses and their guardians, we are still discovering new things," explained Reborn as they began to walk back towards the parking lot. He jumped up on a low wall and balanced effortlessly on it alongside Tsuna with his small hands behind his back. "But the relationship between the ring-carriers – between their elements, so to speak – is of vital importance. The rings only work because their bearers are the right sort of people for them. But," he paused and Tsuna understood that this was an important 'but'. "The thing about this relationship is that it must often be defined by the individual bearers."

Tsuna wrinkled his brow. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"Some of the elements have a relationship that is difficult to define. Cloud and Rain is one of them. On one side clouds carry the rain forward, but in doing so they become heavy and slow and not the free drifters they should be." He demonstrated with his hand, moving it in a downwards arch. "That, in turn, constrains the rain. Normally these things work themselves out and there's no need for any tests, but when it's a matter of romance…" there was a pause. "Falling in love changes people," he said finally, repeating what he had said to Tsuna many nights ago, when Tsuna had told him about his and Gokudera's discovery. "But just defining the relationship is only the half of it. By changing one's nature, a guardian risks losing the traits that made him fit to be a guardian in the first place. For a weapon like the ring, that is driven purely on resolve and determination, it can be enough just to doubt your own abilities. It's a complex equation. Just be happy it wasn't Yamamoto and Ryôhei," Reborn pointed out with a small grin.

Tsuna stared, struck momentarily speechless by the thought. Gokudera's eye twitched.

"I was testing out a couple of theories on my own, too," Reborn went on. "I was curious about why Yamamoto's box animal was a bird. And I also noticed Hibari of the future acted different around him, almost as if he were having a private joke with himself and, originally, he asked to be the one to train Yamamoto. I have every reason to believe they cared about each other."

"Really?" This was new to Tsuna – he had noticed no such thing. "So, you mean, they were… together then, too?"  
Reborn shook his head. "No. You see, my theory is that Yamamoto really did go to Italy and trained under Squalo."  
He looked over his shoulder and stared back at where Yamamoto and Hibari had disappeared.  
"My theory is that we just changed the future."

.

They had reached the car – their _stolen_ car, thought Tsuna glumly.

"So…" he was afraid to ask. And eventually he didn't have to, because Gokudera did it for him. "Did they pass the test?"

Reborn grinned. "Of course."  
He fished a set of keys up from a pocket. "By the way," he said casually, "good job with the car, Gokudera."

And while Tsuna and Gokudera stared at him, their eyes widening gradually in surprise and disbelief, he climbed into the car – the car they had stolen not two hours ago – and, with those same keys, he started the engine. "I'll make good, upstanding criminals of you yet," he said and it sounded like the prospect made him happy.

"Wha – wait! Reborn!" stuttered Tsuna. He reached after the car, as if he could somehow hold it back by sheer physical effort – but Reborn was already speeding away without so much as a backwards glance and he grasped at dust.  
"Are you kidding me?!" He looked up at Gokudera, who looked at him back with a dumbfounded expression to match his own, no doubt.  
"Well, 10th, err, looks like we're walking."  
Neither of them moved.  
"…How does he reach the pedals?"

.

.

They were wandering side by side down the street toward the train station. Fortunately it wasn't far. Tsuna felt tired and drained, like someone had let all the air out of him, and he wasn't sure if he could handle anymore action today – and that included crossing streets and asking for directions.

"So," he smiled and looked up at Gokudera. "Will you live this through, you think?"  
Gokudera grunted something incomprehensible and stuck his hands deep down the pockets of his jeans.  
"Umh, what?"  
"I said yeah, I guess," Gokudera repeated with an irritated shrug. "That cocky bastard is… _actuallykindacool_." That last thing he mumbled very quickly, as if it pained him deeply to admit it. Then he added, "but I'm _not_ babysitting their brats! Ever!"

Tsuna nodded, slowly, then his lips quirked involuntarily and suddenly he burst out laughing. He couldn't help it and he found he neither could, nor wanted to stop. "Can you imagine them getting married?"

There was a pause, and then Gokudera began to laugh as well. He mimed an explosion with his hands. "The end of Namimori," he announced with an elaborate arm gesture.

* * *

The sky above them was a cool purple, littered with tiny little sugar white stars that sparkled faintly. They had found a bench that stood atop a small hill, giving them a very pretty view of the city spreading out below them like a futuristic high-tech fan, and then they had sat down in the grass next to it. They sat close together, their shoulders touching, Hibari's fingers tangled between Yamamoto's. They were quiet and that was ok.

Hibari broke the silence first, for once. "The baby came to me, too," he said, confident in his knowledge, even though Yamamoto had never told him about the conversation with Reborn. "I assume it was the same speech."

"What did you do?" Yamamoto looked at him.

"I've told you, haven't I?" Hibari smirked, but his voice was soft. "I can't be constrained by fickle logic."

"But it's true!" Yamamoto blurted out. "Everything he said! Even if it weren't for these rings," he clutched unselfconsciously at the chain under his shirt. "We know what the future holds – we've been there! If I don't become stronger… if I even end up dragging _you_ down, you who's the strongest of us –"He put his head in his hands and looked suddenly very forlorn. He hesitated for a moment, then "How will I protect dad?" he said finally.

If he had looked up at that moment, Yamamoto would have had the exquisitely rare chance to witness a look of soft compassion and something that might pass for pity cross Hibari's features. But by the time he did look up, it was gone and Hibari's face was serious once again. "Don't flatter yourself, Yamamoto Takeshi," he said unsympathetically. "If I won't be stopped by the laws of nature I certainly won't let myself be tied down by you. And that truth you speak of is highly debatable." He turned completely around now and jabbed a finger at Yamamoto's chest. "Rain doesn't weigh clouds down at all, it relieves them, and either way you choose to look at it," he fingered absently with his own ring and looked down, "rain is what clouds are made of." Hibari glanced sideways up at him. "Without rain, clouds wouldn't exist."

"But the little guy said –"  
"It's a test, herbivore." Hibari brought up Yamamoto's hand and pressed his lips gently against the back of his wrist. "The baby was testing us."

"Do you…" Yamamoto looked at him, at the kiss, blushed a little. "Do you think we passed?"

Hibari shrugged. "I don't care. Let's go home, I wanna play Playstation."

* * *

"_So, what's the trick with birds?"  
__Yamamoto looked expectantly up at him. "You don't even keep it in a cage, and it still doesn't fly away."  
__He lay on his stomach in the grass with his head propped up on his palms. Hibari smirked at him and gazed up at the sky above them.  
_"_If you have to keep a bird in a cage, then it's not tame, is it?" he said mysteriously.  
_"_That's not a terribly bad point."  
_"_If it's really tame," Hibari went on, his eyes still on the ice cream clouds that drifted past over their heads, "it will come after you when you leave it, and when it leaves you," he glanced sideways down at Yamamoto through half-closed eyes, "…it always comes back."  
__Yamamoto pondered this reply quietly for a moment, and then he laughed. "Ahaha! So," he said with a big grin, "when you come running after me, that's __when I'll know I have tamed you!"  
__Still laughing he rolled away to dodge the tonfa that hit the grass where his head had been.  
_"_Hm." Hibari smiled one of his small, lop-sided smiles._

"_I can assure you, Yamamoto Takeshi, that will never happen."_

_._

_._

**The End**

**.**

**.**

**And, finally**: and so it ends… I can't believe I finished. If you've read this far – thank you, you have my eternal gratitude and please know that I want to hug you to death!

In case I didn't make that clear at the end: yes, Yamamoto's ring did return to normal. The idea is that since the rings' flames are driven by determination, and given to you because you possess certain personality traits, changing your personality or starting to doubt yourself would affect it. So what Reborn did was to test Yamamoto and Hibari's loyalty to each other and to their roles as guardians. Yamamoto doubted himself, so that's why the flame suddenly wouldn't come, but tried to get stronger (by going to Squalo) so he showed that he had the determination after all. And Hibari 'convinced' him to come back to Tsuna (and himself, obviously – thus helping the head of the family for purely egoistic reasons, like the Cloud should, so he hadn't changed either.

As for what they said to each other at the airport when Tsuna and Gokudera couldn't hear – I imagined it like this:  
"Is this what you really want?"  
"…No."  
"That's nice." And then… _pow!_


End file.
